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Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has agreed to pay about $550 million to buy some Asian units from British lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), building up its Asia presence.
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Sharon Lorimer |
The deal would cement ANZ's [ANZ
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] position as a regional bank and would be a key step in Australia's fourth biggest bank's goal to generate a fifth of its revenue from Asia by 2012.
The purchase will give ANZ access to 54 branches across Asia with $3.2 billion in loans and $7.1 billion (A$8.9 billion) in deposits.
ANZ said it would buy RBS's retail, wealth and commercial businesses in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong. ANZ will also buy RBS's institutional businesses in Taiwan, Philippines and Vietnam.
"This acquisition deepens our capability in the region with RBS people who have the talent and experience to help accelerate our super regional strategy and to continue to support customers," ANZ Chief Executive Mike Smith said in a statement.
ANZ shares rose 1.2 percent in early trade, in line with the gains in benchmark share index.
ANZ raised about $2 billion in a share sale in May to fund the acquisition and strengthen its balance sheet.
ANZ has been in talks for weeks to buy retail and commercial banking operations in six Asian markets from RBS, which is selling assets to concentrate on its home market after racking up huge losses during the credit crisis.
ANZ has spent about A$2 billion over the past decade in buying mostly minority stakes in banks from China to Vietnam.
RBS, 70 percent owned by the British government, has put the assets up for sale as part of a plan to retreat to its home market and exit or shrink in up to 36 other countries.
Asia-focused Standard Chartered was in talks to buy RBS's assets in China, India and Malaysia, a source told Reuters last month.
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