Connect with us
Finance Digest is a leading online platform for finance and business news, providing insights on banking, finance, technology, investing,trading, insurance, fintech, and more. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.

BANKING

By Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) – First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the United Arab Emirates’ biggest lender, could renew a potential offer for Britain’s Standard Chartered, once lock-up rules from its previous aborted bid expire, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

StanChart shares rose as much as 9% on the news report.

A StanChart spokesperson declined to comment on the report, while FAB could not immediately be reached for comment.

News of the potential offer first came on Jan. 5, when FAB said it had considered a bid for London-listed Standard Chartered but was no longer doing so.

The Abu Dhabi lender is considering reviving the bid once a lock-up period that prevents it immediately doing so expires, offering $30 billion to $35 billon compared with StanChart’s market value of $24 billion, Bloomnberg reported.

Under United Kingdom and Hong Kong takeover rules, FAB cannot bid for StanChart within six months of the previous potential bid’s termination without the consent of the British bank’s board, or in the absence of a rival takeover.

StanChart has for years been the subject of takeover talk thanks to its relatively cheap price and exposure to fast-growing markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, but regulatory and practical complexities have stymied the consummation of any such approach.

Further practicalities such as possible opposition from U.S. authorities to an important dollar-clearing bank being taken over, mean any deal would be very hard to pull off in reality, analysts have said.

JPMorgan and Barclays have been among Western players linked with emerging markets-focused StanChart in the past, but banks from the Middle East now flush with cash have emerged as potential candidates for such deals more recently.

The Gulf region is witnessing an economic boom fuelled by higher oil prices in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine, with sovereign wealth funds and banks on the hunt for deals amid a weakened global outlook.

Saudi National Bank in October announced it was investing up to $1.5 billion in Credit Suisse, representing a stake of up to 9.9%.

 

(Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru and Lawrence White in London; editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 

Continue Reading

Why pay for news and opinions when you can get them for free?

       Subscribe for free now!


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Recent Posts