ANZ has today sought to raise $2.5 billion via a fully underwritten institutional share placement, which would help fund the acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS’s) Asian businesses.
The big banking group announced the share placement to the Australian Securities Exchange this morning at the same time as providing an update on its trading position and confirming that it was part of the competitive sale process being conducted by the RBS.
The announcement said ANZ’s long-term aspiration was to become a super regional bank focused on Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific and that this involved pursuing growth opportunities in the Asia Pacific, growing its presence in Australia and maintaining its leading position in New Zealand.
“Consistent with this strategy, ANZ is one of a number of parties participating in a competitive sale process being conducted by RBS in relation to certain businesses in Asia,” it said.
“As part of that process, ANZ has recently submitted a non-binding proposal to RBS group for selected businesses … This institutional placement and share purchase plan raising would allow ANZ to fund an acquisition of the selected RBS Asia Assets.”
