MCB Bank approves planned purchase of RBS Pakistan
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
KARACHI, Aug. 10 (Bloomberg): MCB Bank Ltd., Pakistan's biggest by market value, said its board approved a proposed purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's local operations as the UK lender seeks to raise capital.
The companies are yet to sign a share purchase agreement, MCB Bank said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange today. The lender hasn't set a price for the assets, spokesman Kafeel Burney said from Karachi. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and KASB Bank Ltd. are advising MCB on the transaction.
RBS, based in Edinburgh, is selling or shutting businesses in two-thirds of the 54 countries in which it operates after posting the biggest loss in British corporate history last year. Pakistan's JS Bank Ltd. and Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding SAE are also interested in buying RBS Pakistan, according to statements to the stock exchange.
MCB may pay about $90 million for the assets, Reuters reported earlier today, citing an unidentified person familiar with the transaction.
The assets would help the buyer tap growth in a nation that forecasts an economic revival for the fiscal year that started July 1 after the government predicted a 3.3 per cent expansion. Pakistan's economy may expand more than 6 per cent annually on average over the next five years, Shaukat Tarin, adviser to Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, said in March.
RBS Pakistan shares rose 5.3 per cent to 20.05 rupees on the Karachi Stock Exchange, while MCB Bank gained 3.9 per cent.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. on Aug. 4 agreed to buy RBS's units in six Asian countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia. ANZ Bank, Australia's fourth- biggest lender, will pay $550 million for those assets.
There have been eight acquisitions of Pakistani banks since 2002, with the biggest being Standard Chartered Plc's purchase of Union Bank Ltd. for $487 million in September 2006.
MCB Bank said earlier today that second-quarter profit rose 1.6 per cent to 3.63 billion rupees ($43.8 million), or 5.24 rupees a share, from 3.56 billion rupees, or 5.16 rupees, a year earlier. Revenue rose to 13.9 billion rupees.
The companies are yet to sign a share purchase agreement, MCB Bank said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange today. The lender hasn't set a price for the assets, spokesman Kafeel Burney said from Karachi. Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and KASB Bank Ltd. are advising MCB on the transaction.
RBS, based in Edinburgh, is selling or shutting businesses in two-thirds of the 54 countries in which it operates after posting the biggest loss in British corporate history last year. Pakistan's JS Bank Ltd. and Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding SAE are also interested in buying RBS Pakistan, according to statements to the stock exchange.
MCB may pay about $90 million for the assets, Reuters reported earlier today, citing an unidentified person familiar with the transaction.
The assets would help the buyer tap growth in a nation that forecasts an economic revival for the fiscal year that started July 1 after the government predicted a 3.3 per cent expansion. Pakistan's economy may expand more than 6 per cent annually on average over the next five years, Shaukat Tarin, adviser to Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, said in March.
RBS Pakistan shares rose 5.3 per cent to 20.05 rupees on the Karachi Stock Exchange, while MCB Bank gained 3.9 per cent.
Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. on Aug. 4 agreed to buy RBS's units in six Asian countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia. ANZ Bank, Australia's fourth- biggest lender, will pay $550 million for those assets.
There have been eight acquisitions of Pakistani banks since 2002, with the biggest being Standard Chartered Plc's purchase of Union Bank Ltd. for $487 million in September 2006.
MCB Bank said earlier today that second-quarter profit rose 1.6 per cent to 3.63 billion rupees ($43.8 million), or 5.24 rupees a share, from 3.56 billion rupees, or 5.16 rupees, a year earlier. Revenue rose to 13.9 billion rupees.