Lend Lease in talks with NAB
Lend Lease has confirmed it is in discussions with National Australia Bank over its wholly owned subsidiary MLC.
Lend Lease has confirmed it is in discussions with National Australia Bank over its wholly owned subsidiary MLC.
No decisions had been reached by either party and no commitments of a material nature had been made, the company says.
While it acknowledged discussion were taking place, Lend Lease says details of the discussions published in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today are not accurate. The paper said it was believed Lend Lease and NAB were in the final stages of negotiating a deal for NAB to take at least 50 per cent of the financial services group.
The NAB also confirmed the discussions over MLC in an identical statement to the one issued by Lend Lease. The bank has been under pressure to make an acquisition following last year's statement by chief executive Frank Cicutto that it would mount a share buyback if it hadn't iden-tified a viable acquisition by mid-year.
The proposed takeover of Colonial by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has also heightened expectation the NAB would make an acquisition in order to preserve its status as the country's largest bank.
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