The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) yesterday signed an agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) to acquire select RBS businesses in Asia for A$687 million (US$550 million).
The acquisition includes RBS’ retail, wealth and commercial businesses in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong, as well as its institutional banking businesses in Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam, its press statement said.
The purchase price represented an A$62 million premium to, or 1.1 times, the fully provided recapitalized net tangible book value, although the final price will be based on the value at completion, the statement said.
“The acquisition is a further stepping stone in our super regional strategy and creates a new platform for our retail and wealth businesses in Asia,” ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith told a media briefing in Hong Kong.
“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,” he said.
The portfolio of acquired businesses covers 54 branches, US$3.2 billion in loans, US$7.1 billion in deposits and a customer base of approximately 2 million, ANZ said.
It plans to fund the acquisition from the proceeds of its recent institutional share placement, the bank’s statement said.
Upon the completion of the acquisition, ANZ’s pro forma tier 1 capital ratio would be 9.5 percent, it said.
ANZ promised to deliver cash earnings per share accretive within two years after completing the acquisition, it said.
As part of the acquisition, ANZ has also put in place a transitional services agreement and a product supply agreement with RBS while retention agreements have been put in place with key RBS employees, the bank said.
The acquisition of each business is subject to regulatory approvals, including local prudential regulatory approval, it said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last