(Australia) Westpac has pulled out of the race to buy National Bank of New Zealand leaving ANZ as the sole Australian bank still interested in snapping up the Lloyds TSB-owned bank.In a statement, Westpac said “the decision was made not to proceed further as [the bank] considers it would be diverting from its core organic growth strategy”.
The announcement comes just weeks after Westpac said its interest in buying NBNZ was “consistent with its strategy of evaluating all acquisition opportunities that arise in its core markets of Australia and New Zealand”.
Commonwealth Bank recently issued a statement clarifying its lack of interest in the bank while National Bank of Australia has yet to make any formal moves on NBNZ.
Westpac went on to say that “as the biggest bank in New Zealand, Westpac will continue to focus on its existing customer base and its organic growth strategy”.
The asking price for NBNZ is tipped to be about $7 billion.