RHB, AMBANK MERGER TALKS ʻ GIVEN GREEN LIGHT BY BANK NEGARA’

KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Bank Bhd and AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank) will begin merger talks to create one of Malaysia’s biggest lenders, said two sources familiar with the matter yesterday.

The banks could announce as early as today they had received approval from Bank Negara Malaysia to commence merger negotiations, said the sources.

RHB, Malaysia’s fourth biggest bank, would be the acquirer in the potential merger, said the sources.

AmBank, the country’s sixth biggest bank, has a market capitalisation of RM15.7 billion and a complete takeover by RHB could be one of the country’s biggest deals in recent years.

RHB and AmBank yesterday requested Bursa Malaysia suspend trading in their shares today, “pending a material announcement”.

ANZ Banking Group, which owns a 24 per cent stake in Ambank, has been weighing a sale of its stake since early last year.

In 2014-15, RHB, CIMB Holdings and Malaysian Building Society Bhd (MBSB) were in talks for a three-way US$20 billion (RM85.75 billion) merger to create Malaysia’s largest bank. But the talks collapsed as the parties failed to agree on the terms.

MBSB then entered into talks with Bank Muamalat Bhd for a merger that would have created the largest standalone Islamic bank in Malaysia, but the talks fell through. It is currently in merger talks with Asian Finance Bank Bhd. Reuters