RBI DealWatch tracks
global financial services mergers and acquisitions, privatisations
and demutualisations, flotations, divestments, share stakes,
strategic alliances and joint ventures

Country

Participants

Type/value

Description

Date

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EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA

UK, Global

Barclays, BlackRock

Acquisition

Barclays, the UK’s third-largest bank, has
agreed a $13 billion sale of its asset management business,
Barclays Global Investors (BGI), to US-headquartered BlackRock.
Once the deal closes, Barclays’ Tier 1 capital ratio will jump from
around 6.7 percent to 8 percent. Part of the sale proceeds are
likely to be earmarked for further expansion of Barclays’
international retail and commercial banking business, according to
a number of analysts.

11-Jun

Switzerland

VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Russische Kommerzial
Bank

Acquisition

State-controlled Gazprombank has purchased a
100 percent stake in Swiss-based Russische Kommerzial Bank from
fellow Russian public sector lender VTB, part of the latter bank’s
ongoing strategy to streamline its western European operations. No
purchase price has been disclosed. Russische Kommerzial Bank had
assets totaling CHF2.4 billion ($2.2 billion) and loans and other
funds provided to customers worth CHF1.8 billion at the end of
2008.

9-Jun

Germany

Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Postbank

Strategy update

Deutsche Bank has said it has no plans to
accelerate its acquisition of Deutsche Postbank, even though it has
increased its stake in the Deutsche Post subsidiary during the
second quarter towards 30 percent, according to a report by
Reuters. In January, Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Post agreed revised
terms for Deutsche to acquire a majority stake in Postbank.

8-Jun

Poland

PKO BP

Proposed capital raising

PKO BP, Poland’s largest by assets (see
‘Europe’s largest start-up for 30 years’), is eyeing a
rights issue to raise up to PLN5 billion ($1.5 billion) to boost
lending and fund growth. Shareholders will vote on the proposed
capital raising on 30 June. Polish press reports have linked PKO
with a possible bid for rival BZ WBK, majority-owned by Ireland’s
AIB, as well as Bank Millennium, controlled by Portugal’s
Millennium bcp.

8-Jun

Spain

Santander

Capital raising

Only seven months after rushing through a
heavily discounted €7.2 billion ($10.1 billion) rights issue to
beef up its balance sheet, Santander is reportedly planning to
issue up to €2.5 billion of preference shares.

4-Jun

Spain

Criteria Caixa Corporation, Erste

Stake increase

Criteria Caixa Corporation, controlled by
Spain’s largest savings bank, la Caixa, has increased its stake in
Austria’s Erste Bank to 5.1 percent. In addition, the two banking
groups have signed a cooperation agreement offering both
institutions access to each other’s clients in their respective
home markets.

4-Jun

Bahrain

Bahraini Saudi Bank, Al Salam Bank

Acquisition

In one of the first of an anticipated wave of
banking mergers this year in the Gulf region, Bahrain’s Al Salam
Bank has agreed to snap up rival Bahraini Saudi Bank in a deal
worth around $70 million. Following the acquisition, Al Salam will
have a market cap of around $470 million.

3-Jun

Israel

Bank Hapoalim

Capital raising

Israel’s second-largest lender, Bank
Hapoalim, has successfully raised a total of ILS1.6 billion ($407.1
million) in a two-part offering of deferred capital notes. Rival
Bank Leumi raised ILS1.2 billion in May.

3-Jun

Abu Dhabi

International Petroleum Investment Company,
Barclays

Stake sale

Abu Dhabi government-owned International
Petroleum Investment Company has sold £3.5 billion ($5.7 billion)
worth of instruments that were due to convert into Barclays shares
by the end of June, in the process pocketing a gain of around £2.5
billion.

2-Jun

Russia

Société Générale, Rosbank

Stake increase

Société Générale has purchased an additional
stake of 7 percent in Rosbank from its Russian partner Interros, in
the process raising its stake to 64.7 percent. Russia accounted for
21 percent of the French bank’s total international retail banking
income in the first quarter of 2009.

28-May

France

Société Générale, French state

Capital raising

Société Générale has issued €1.7 billion of
preference shares under a French government plan to shore up banks’
capital by buying securities. According to a filing lodged by the
bank with the country’s stock market regulator, the French
government’s stake in Societe Generale rose to 7.2 percent in
May.

28-May

THE AMERICAS

US

Citi

Stock conversion

Citi’s long-mooted $58 billion swap of
preferred stock into common is underway, with the US government,
which holds $25 billion of preference shares, set to become the
bank’s largest shareholder with a 34 percent stake. Citi will also
exchange up to $33 billion of preferred stock not held by the
government.

11-Jun

US

E*Trade, Citadel

Capital raising

US discount broker E*Trade is close to
agreeing a deal with its largest shareholder, hedge fund Citadel
Investment, to shore up its financial position, according to a
report in the Wall Street Journal. In April, E*Trade was told by
its banking unit regulator, the Office of Thrift Supervision, to
raise more capital “in the near term”. Citadel paid $1.75 billion
for a near 20 percent stake in E*Trade in 2007.

10-Jun

US

Silverton Bank

Aborted sale

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC) has abandoned its attempt to sell the collapsed
Atlanta-based Silverton Bank, and will instead liquidate it amid
concerns the bank was losing customers too rapidly to allow a
full-blown auction. At the time it failed in May, Silverton had
about $4.1 billion in assets and $3.3 billion in deposits. The FDIC
will look to sell off the bank in parts.

5-Jun

US

Bank of Lincolnwood

Bank failure

Bank of Lincolnwood, a community bank based
in Chicago, has failed, at a cost to the FDIC’s insurance fund of
around $83 million. Lincolnwood’s deposits and two branches have
been sold to regional lender Republic Bank of Chicago.

5-Jun

Canada

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank
of East Asia (Canada)

Acquisition

Having spent more than $6 billion on
acquisitions in Indonesia, Macau and South Africa in the past two
years, the world’s largest bank by market cap, Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China, is to dip its toe into Canada. ICBC is
taking a 70 percent stake in Bank of East Asia Canada (BEAC) for
around C$80.25 million ($72 million). BEAC services retail and
business customers from six branches in Vancouver and Toronto and
had about C$556 million in assets and C$482 million of deposits at
the end of 2008. ICBC, which is aiming to triple its share of
profits to about 10 percent from its international operations, has
an option to raise its holding in BEAC to 80 percent one year after
the deal closes.

4-Jun

Brazil

Bradesco, Banco ibi

Acquisition

Bradesco, Brazil’s second-largest
private-sector bank, is to boost its consumer finance arm with the
BRL1.4 billion ($717.9 million) purchase of Banco ibi from retailer
C&A (see above).

4-Jun

US

American Express

Capital raising

American Express is to raise $500 million
from a public offering of its common stock, with the proceeds
earmarked to paying back TARP bailout funds.

2-Jun

US

PNC

Capital raising

PNC, the fifth-largest US bank by deposits,
has raised more than $600 million through the sale of 15 million
common shares, as it targets an early repayment of the $7.6 billion
it received from the US government’s TARP scheme.

27-May

US

OceanFirst Financial Corporation, Central
Jersey Bancorp

Acquisition

OceanFirst Financial Corporation has agreed
to acquire smaller New Jersey-based rival Central Jersey Bancorp,
in an all-stock deal worth around $68.4 million.

27-May

US

United Financial Bancorp, CNB Financial
Corp

Proposed acquisition

Massachusetts-based CNB Financial, a regional
lender up for sale comprising six branches and nearly $300 million
in assets, has received three merger offers with local rival United
Financial Bancorp reported to be in pole position to close a
deal.

26-May

Brazil

Itaú Unibanco

Strategy update

Latin America’s largest bank by assets, Itaú
Unibanco, is on the look out for further acquisition opportunities,
according to a television interview given by its executive vice
president and chief of investor relations, Alfredo Setubal.
Analysts have however cautioned that any potential Brazilian
purchase would create a potential anti-trust issue: the bank
currently has a market share of around 20 percent in the
country.

20-May

ASIA-PACIFIC

South Korea

KB Financial, Korea Exchange Bank

Possible acquisition

The ownership of Korea Exchange Bank (KEB),
South Korea’s sixth-largest bank, is again the subject of market
speculation, with KB Financial, owners of the country’s largest
bank Kookmin, firmly in the frame as a possible purchaser. On 10
June, local press quoted KB’s group CEO, Hwang Young-key, as saying
if M&A opportunities arose, it would consider acquisitions,
including KEB, brokerage and insurance companies. Attempts to sell
KEB, 51 percent owned by US private equity firm Lone Star, to
Kookmin and HSBC in 2006 and 2007, respectively, collapsed.

10-Jun

India

State Bank of India, Nepal SBI

Stake increase, strategy update

Long awaited consolidation of the Indian
banking sector edges forward, with the country’s largest lender,
State Bank of India (SBI), set to take over its six associate
banks. The country’s finance minister said in a statement the
country’s public sector banks should look at consolidation in order
to reduce risk to financial stability and to boost competition.
SBI’s chairman, OP Bhatt, said in a statement the consolidation of
the six banks would not take more than six months to complete once
the government approved the mergers. In a separate statement, SBI
said it had increased its stake to 55 percent in joint venture
Nepal SBI from 50 percent.

10-Jun

India

Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank, Andhra
Bank

Joint venture

Bank of Baroda, the third-largest Indian
public sector bank, has said it has agreed to a joint venture with
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and Andhra Bank to set up a banking
subsidiary in Malaysia, to be named India BIA Bank (Malaysia).
Ownership of the venture will be split 40 percent, 35 percent and
25 percent between Bank of Baroda, IOB and Andhra,
respectively.

9-Jun

Philippines

San Miguel Corporation, Bank of Commerce

Proposed stake increase

International food and beverage combine San
Miguel has increased its stake in 112-branch-strong Philippines
lender Bank of Commerce to 51 percent.

9-Jun

China

Ping An Insurance, Shenzhen Development
Bank

Possible joint venture

China’s second largest insurer, Ping An, is
to boost its existing small banking unit by becoming the largest
shareholder in regional lender Shenzhen Development Bank, in which
it currently has a stake of around 4.9 percent. Reports suggest
Ping An will snap up US private equity firm TPG’s 16.7 percent
holding in the bank, while an issue of new shares to be acquired by
the insurer will take Ping An’s stake up to around 30 percent.

8-Jun

China

Ta Chong Bank

Strategy update

Ta Chong Bank, the Taiwanese lender in which
US private equity giant Carlyle Group holds a 13 percent stake, is
on the lookout to expand into China. In April, the respective
governments of China and Taiwan agreed, in principle, to allow
investments in each other’s banking and financial services
industries. Ta Chong will not however make its move into China
until the inter-governmental agreement is concluded.

4-Jun

Asia-Pacific

Royal Bank of Scotland, ANZ, HSBC, Standard
Chartered

Sale update

Australia’s ANZ was the only one of the three
banks interested in buying all of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS)
Asian assets, according to local analysts and media reports. HSBC
and Standard Chartered were the other two banks keen to acquire
RBS’ assets, but only those in Hong Kong and Singapore. The lack of
bids from HSBC and Standard Chartered has caused RBS to rethink the
sales process, with the UK-state controlled lender keen to sell its
operations in at least 10 countries including China, India,
Indonesia and Singapore.

1-Jun

China

ICBC, Goldman Sachs

Stake sale

Goldman Sachs has pared its stake in
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China from 4.93 percent to 4
percent, raising $1.9 billion in the process. Goldman Sachs agreed
in March this year to keep 80 percent of its ICBC stake until April
next year.

1-Jun

Australia

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank

Stake increase

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is to spend A$33.9
million ($27.5 million) to increase its stake in regional lender
Elders Rural Bank (ERB) from 50 percent to 60 percent. ERB, which
will be renamed Rural Bank Limited from 1 July, will continue to be
focused on the agri banking sector.

7-May

Source: RBI