Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said it was in talks with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc to buy ABN Amro Holding NV’s investment banking and corporate finance business in Australia and New Zealand, a day after National Australia Bank Ltd ended discussions.
The proposal is incomplete and talks are ongoing, Australia’s largest bank by market value said in a statement to the nation’s stock exchange. Sydney-based Commonwealth Bank is in exclusive negotiations, it said.
RESERVES
The sale by RBS, the UK’s second-biggest bank, is part of a push to shed assets and raise capital to bolster reserves depleted by credit-related writedowns and the ABN Amro purchase last year.
RBS, which also wants to sell its insurance unit, must raise about £4 billion (US$8 billion) in disposals even after amassing £12.3 billion in Europe’s biggest rights offering last month, to help bring capital ratios in line with peers.
“It’s an avenue for CBA to bulk up their financial side of the business, not a strategic necessity,” said Angus Gluskie, who helps oversee the equivalent of US$500 million at White Funds Management in Sydney, including shares of Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank.
ACQUISITIONS
The acquisition would be the first for Commonwealth Bank since teaming with JPMorgan Chase & Co to buy United Utilities Plc’s power distribution unit in December.
Commonwealth Bank bought 83 percent of Indonesia’s PT Bank Arta Niaga Kencana in January last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
National Australia Bank, the country’s biggest by assets, said yesterday it ended talks to buy ABN Amro’s local investment- banking businesses, without providing further details.
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