RBI
DealWatch

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

Europe, Middle East,
Africa

Country

Participants

Type/value

Description

Date

UK

Lloyds Banking Group

Capital raising

Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) has completed its
£13.5 billion ($22 billion) rights issue, with shareholders –
including the UK treasury, which still holds a 43 percent stake in
the group – taking up 95 percent of the shares on offer.

14 Dec

Slovenia

KBC, Nova Ljubljanska Banka, China
Development Bank

Possible stake acquisition

China Development Bank is eyeing up a bid for
KBC’s non-strategic 30.6 percent stake in Slovenia’s largest bank,
Nova Ljubljanska Banka, according to Slovenian press reports.

11 Dec

The Netherlands

ING

Repayment of state aid

ING is to repay state aid of $5.6 billion
prior to the year-end, with the proceeds of a €7.5 billion ($11.1
billion) rights issue expected to complete on 21 December. ING
received a €10 billion capital injection from the Dutch government
in 2008 and guarantees on €21.6 billion of US mortgage-related
assets this year.

11 Dec

Czech Republic

AnaCap Financial Partners, Banco Popolare
Ceská Republika

Acquisition

European private equity house AnaCap
Financial Partners is to acquire Banco Popolare Ceská Republika,
the seven-branch-strong Czech subsidiary of Italy’s Banco Popolare,
subject to due diligence and regulatory approvals.

10 Dec

Cyprus

Piraeus Bank, Marfin Popular Bank

Denial of merger rumours

Greece’s Piraeus Bank has denied local press
reports linking it with a merger with Cyprus-based Marfin Popular
Bank.

10 Dec

Angola

BES, BES Angola, Portmill

Sale of business unit

Portugal-based BES has completed the sale of
a 24 percent stake in BES Angola to Portmill (an Angolan investor)
for $375 million. Following the deal, BES will retain a stake of
51.94 percent in the Angolan lender.

10 Dec

France

Société Générale, Dexia, Credit du Nord

Stake increase

Société Générale has reached an agreement to
buy the remaining 20 percent it does not own of French regional
retail bank Crédit du Nord from Belgian-based Dexia, in a deal
valued at around €600 million ($885.8 million) to €700 million.

10 Dec

Poland

Noble Bank, GMAC Bank Polska

Purchase of business unit

Polish-based Noble Bank has agreed a deal to
buy GMAC Bank Polska from US-based GMAC. Noble will pay 95 percent
of the book value of the assets, estimated to be around $46
million, as of 31 July.

9 Dec

Luxembourg

Dexia

Possible sale of business unit

Under pressure to shed businesses after
receiving a €6 billion ($8.9 billion) government bailout last year,
Belgian-headquartered Dexia is weighing up plans to sell its
Luxembourg-based wealth management unit. The division has around
€15 billion of private banking assets under management.

8 Dec

Russia

VTB, Sistema-Hals

Stake increase

VTB has exercised an option to acquire a
further 31.5 percent stake in Sistema-Hals, Russia’s largest
private-sector property developer, taking its stake up to 51.2
percent.

3 Dec

Ukraine

Raiffeisen Bank Aval

Capital raising

Raiffeisen Bank Aval, the Ukraine-based
subsidiary of Raiffeisen International, has received a $150 million
10-year loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development to boost its capital base.

2 Dec

UK

Yorkshire Building Society, Chelsea Building
Society

Acquisition

The UK’s second-largest building society, the
Yorkshire, is to acquire loss-making rival Chelsea Building
Society, the country’s fifth-largest, in a deal expected to
complete in April 2010. The newly-enlarged group will comprise
assets of more than £35 billion ($57.1 billion) with around 2.7
million members served by a branch network of 178 outlets.

1 Dec

UK

Barclays, BlackRock

Sale concluded

Barclays has completed the sale of its asset
management arm to US fund manager BlackRock for $15.2 billion, more
than $1.7 billion in excess of the sum agreed when it struck the
original deal in June.

1 Dec

UK

JC Flowers

Strategy update

US-based private equity group JC Flowers has
reportedly set aside up to $2.3 billion to target forced banking
divestments over the next 12 months in the UK.

25 Nov

UK

JPMorgan Chase, Cazenove

Stake increase

JPMorgan Chase is to acquire the remaining
half of UK stockbroker Cazenove, which it does not already own, in
a deal which values the latter at around £2 billion ($3.3
billion).

19 Nov

Czech Republic

KBC

Initial public offering

KBC is to sell a 30 percent to 40 percent
stake in its Czech-based subsidiary, CSOB, on the Prague stock
exchange in 2010 as part of its restructuring plan (see RBI
623).

18 Nov

Spain

Santander

Merger of business units

Santander is to merge its wealth management
and private banking businesses as part of an internal business
reorganisation.

17 Nov

The Americas

Country

Participants

Type/value

Description

Date

US

Citigroup

TARP repayment

Citigroup is close to agreeing a deal to
repay the US Treasury some of the financial aid it received last
year, according to US media reports. The reports suggest that the
bank will sell over $10 billion in common stock in order to help
fund the repayment.

14 Dec

Venezuela

Assorted banks

Bank failures

The Venezuelan government has stepped up its
intervention in the country’s banking sector by shutting an eighth
institution in three weeks. The government has alleged widespread
regulatory violations took place at the eight banks.

11 Dec

US

Republic Federal Bank, SolutionsBank, Valley
Capital Bank

Bank failures

The number of US banks to have failed in 2009
has risen to 133 with the failure of Florida’s Republic Federal
Bank, Kansas’ SolutionsBank and Arizona’s Valley Capital Bank.

11 Dec

Argentina

Banco Supervielle

Initial Public Offering

Banco Supervielle, the Argentine institution
with 120 branches across the country, is planning an initial public
offering in 2011, according to Bloomberg.

10 Dec

US

Bank of America

Capital raising, TARP repayment

Bank of America has repaid $45 billion of
Troubled Asset Relief Program funds using $26.2 billion in excess
liquidity and the proceeds of a shares offering which raised gross
proceeds in excess of $19 billion.

10 Dec

US

New York Community Bank, AmTrust Bank

Acquisition

New York Community Bank has acquired around
$12 billion in assets and assumed liabilities of about $21 billion
from the failed AmTrust Bank in a deal brokered by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (see page 21).

7 Dec

US

Citigroup, Kuwait Investment Authority

Stake sale

Sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment
Authority has transferred its preferred stock in Citigroup to
common shares and sold the entire holding for $4.1 billion, a 37
percent return on its initial January 2008 investment of $3
billion.

7 Dec

US

AIG

Possible sale of business unit

American International Group, the beleaguered
US-based insurer almost 80 percent-owned
by the government, is reportedly seeking bids for its International
Lease Finance Corporation unit, a division which has a portfolio of
around 1,000 aircraft, with a book value of more than $40
billion.

4 Dec

North America

BMO Bank of Montreal, Citi, Diners Club

Acquisition of credit card unit

BMO Bank of Montreal (BMO) has snapped up the
North American credit card business
of Diners Club from Citigroup, in the process doubling its
corporate card portfolio. BMO
said the acquisition is expected to add nearly $1 billion of
receivables and $7.8 billion of
card transactions in 2010. BMO is targeting to close the deal by
the end of the first quarter.

24 Nov

US

People’s United Financial, Financial Federal
Corporation

Acquisition

Connecticut-based People’s United Financial
has agreed a deal worth around $738 million to acquire Financial
Federal Corporation in a deal designed to boost its equipment
financing business.

23 Nov

US

Citigroup

Possible sale of business unit

Private equity groups, including US-based
Blackstone Group, have been linked with a possible deal to acquire
Citigroup’s auto loan unit CitiFinancial Auto, which maintains a
loan portfolio of around $16 billion.

23 Nov

US

American Express, Revolution Money

Acquisition

American Express has agreed a $300 million
deal to acquire online payments startup
Revolution Money with the purchase expected to be concluded in
early 2010 (see RBI 622).

23 Nov

Asia Pacific

Country

Participants

Type/value

Description

Date

Malaysia

Maybank, Siam City Bank

Stake acquisition denial

Maybank has denied reports that it intends to
bid for a stake in Thailand’s Siam City Bank, the seventh largest
commercial bank in Thailand.

14 Dec

Vietnam

Maybank, An Binh Bank

Stake increase

Malaysia’s largest bank, Maybank, is to pay
$19.3 million to increase its stake in Vietnam’s An Binh Bank from
15 percent to 20 percent . Maybank purchased its 15 percent holding
for $135 million in March 2008.

11 Dec

China, India, Malaysia

Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC

Sale of business units

HSBC is reportedly close to reaching a deal
with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to acquire the remaining
Asia-Pacific assets – in China, India and Malaysia – being divested
by RBS as part of its strategic review.

10 Dec

Mongolia

Anod Bank

Bank collapse

Anod Bank has collapsed into receivership,
the second bank in Mongolia to be taken into the control of the
country’s central bank in less than a month (see Zoos Bank, below).
The performing assets of Zoos and Anod, among 16 commercial banks
based in the country, will be amalgamated into a new state-owned
lender.

10 Dec

Australia

ANZ, AWB

Sale of business unit

ANZ has agreed a deal to acquire Agribusiness
AWB’s Landmark Financial Services unit comprising an A$2.4 billion
($2.2 billion) loan book and deposits of around A$300 million at
net book value. ANZ said the deal would boost its strategy to
become a leader in agribusiness financial services in
Australasia.

8 Dec

Hong Kong

China Pacific Insurance

Proposed initial public offering

China’s third-largest insurer, China Pacific,
is planning to raise up to HK$28.3 billion ($3.65 billion) from a
Hong Kong initial public offering.

6 Dec

Hong Kong

AIA Group

Proposed initial public offering

The Asian life insurance unit of American
International Group, AIA Group, is looking to raise between $5
billion and $10 billion in a planned initial public offering
according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

4 Dec

China

BBVA, China Citic Bank

Stake increase

Spain’s second-largest-bank BBVA has
exercised its call option to raise its stake in China Citic Bank by
4.93 percent to 15 percent in a deal worth around €1 billion.

4 Dec

India

Kotak Mahindra Bank

Strategy update

India-based private sector lender Kotak
Mahindra Bank is on the look out for a possible acquisition
according to local media reports. Uday Kotak, the bank’s executive
vice-chairman and managing director said: “In our position, we will
buy, we will be consolidators, we are sitting on huge capital. We
have surplus capital, our capital adequacy is more than 20 percent
and our businesses are generating significant cash.”

4 Dec

Taiwan

ICBC, Cathay Financial

Possible stake purchase

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is
eyeing up a deal to acquire a 20 percent stake in Taiwan’s Cathay
Financial for around $3.4 billion in what would be the first direct
investment by a Chinese bank into a Taiwan financial group.

2 Dec

Japan

MUFG

Capital raising

Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ, the country’s largest
bank, is to raise up to ¥1.06 trillion ($12 billion) in a share
sale expected to be Japan’s largest ever secondary common stock
offering.

30 Nov

Mongolia

Zoos Bank

Bank collapse

Zoos Bank, Mongolia’s sixth-largest bank, has
been nationalised following the appointment of a receiver.

24 Nov

China

Manulife, ABN Amro TEDA Fund Management

Stake purchase

Manulife, the largest US insurer by market
value, has snapped up a 49 percent stake in China-based ABN Amro
TEDA Fund Management for $156 million in cash.

23 Nov

Source: RBI