Despite its regional ambitions, ANZ finds banks in Hong Kong too pricey to purchase
Australia-based bank cites 'overpriced' banksas it shies away from Hong Kong acquisition
Australia and New Zealand Banking (ANZ), Australia's third-largest bank by market value, aims to build itself into a regional bank in Asia, but an acquisition in Hong Kong is not part of its plans.
Chief executive Michael Smith said the city's local banks are too expensive for ANZ.
Hong Kong's four family-controlled lenders are seen as attractive targets for firms that want to use the city, the primary offshore yuan clearing centre, as a gateway to the mainland.
Wing Hang Bank, the second-largest of them, is holding exclusive talks with Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp for a possible sale this month. Analysts are expecting a price of about twice book value.
If the deal succeeds, it would be the second takeover of a local family-controlled bank in several months. Guangzhou government-backed Yue Xiu offered 2.08 times book value to acquire Chong Hing Bank, the smallest of the four, in October.
Asked about the price Yue Xiu paid to enter the city, Smith said: "It must work for them, but it wouldn't work for us.
"It's too expensive," he told the at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on Monday. He said ANZ would not want to dilute its earnings with such an acquisition.
