NAB confirms made offer to Abbey, talks now finished
(Australia) - Australia's top-ranked National Australia Bank (NAB) has confirmed it put a merger proposal to Britain's Abbey National, but says nothing came of the approach and talks have now ceased.
"The discussions regarding the National's proposal did not result in any agreement and have now ceased," the NAB said in a statement today to the Australian Stock Exchange.
Speculation that NAB was preparing a merger or takeover bid for Abbey surfaced last week after the Abbey board spurned a merger proposal from the Bank of Ireland, headed by former NAB executive Michael Soden. Abbey also turned down an offer from Lloyds TSB last year.
But while the Bank of Ireland is reportedly considering a hostile on-market bid, the market is not expecting any such moves from the NAB, largely because a hostile bid would preclude the bank from proper due diligence on Abbey.
NAB owns three banks in the UK - the merging Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks and Belfast's National Irish Bank - and has long held ambitions to expand in the UK.
Stockbroking house JB Were estimates that a NAB-Abbey merger would give the merged entity a 14 percent share of British savings and mortgage markets.
The NAB is also believed to have pondered moves on several other British financial institutions, such as Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.
Speculation that NAB was preparing a merger or takeover bid for Abbey surfaced last week after the Abbey board spurned a merger proposal from the Bank of Ireland, headed by former NAB executive Michael Soden. Abbey also turned down an offer from Lloyds TSB last year.
But while the Bank of Ireland is reportedly considering a hostile on-market bid, the market is not expecting any such moves from the NAB, largely because a hostile bid would preclude the bank from proper due diligence on Abbey.
NAB owns three banks in the UK - the merging Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks and Belfast's National Irish Bank - and has long held ambitions to expand in the UK.
Stockbroking house JB Were estimates that a NAB-Abbey merger would give the merged entity a 14 percent share of British savings and mortgage markets.
The NAB is also believed to have pondered moves on several other British financial institutions, such as Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.
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