ANZ sells remaining stake in Malaysian lender AmBank
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The news: ANZ has agreed to sell its remaining 5.2% stake in Malaysian lender AmBank via a block trade.
The numbers: The sale price was agreed at 4.10 ringgit ($1.3) per share. ANZ said the sale proceeds will increase its common equity tier 1 ratio by around 5 basis points (bps), which is additional to the 16bps of capital released from the sell-off of an initial 16.5% shareholding in March.
The context: ANZ said the settlement is due on 5 June and is not expected to have a material impact on profit.
The bank has previously noted that the sale of its stake in AmBank is in line with the company's strategy of simplifying the bank. The Melbourne-based multinational will continue to have one nominated director on the board of AmBank board.
Australian banks have been pulling back in various ways from Asia but for ANZ earnings from the region has never been higher. This though, is through institutional banking of multinational corporations, sovereign funds and other banks rather than via branch networks and consumers.
What they said: ANZ's chief financial officer Farhan Faruqui said: "The sale of our equity stake in AmBank is a significant milestone in delivering on our strategy to simplify the bank".
The source: ASX announcement
