Australia's ANZ has disposed of it's 20 percent stake in China's Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank. The move further dilutes the banks Asian exposure.
ANZ announced today it had reached agreement to sell its stake in Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank (SRCB) to China Cosco Shipping Corporation and Shanghai Sino-Poland Enterprise Management Development Corporation.
The agreement will see Cosco and Sino-Poland Enterprise each acquire 10 percent of SRCB for a total consideration to ANZ of just over AUS $1.8 billion. As a result of the sale ANZ's common equity tier 1 capital ratio becomes the highest among the big four Australian lenders.
Shrinking Asian Footprint
«The sale will also allow us to focus our resources on our Institutional Banking business in Asia with 100 percent ANZ-owned branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Qingdao serving our institutional clients,» said Graham Hodges (pictured left) Deputy Chief Executive Officer at ANZ.
In October 2016 Singaporean bank DBS acquired ANZ’s wealth management and retail banking business in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Indonesia for approximately SGD 110 million above book value.
Early in his tenure CEO Shayne Elliott made it clear he was keen to reverse the Asian expansion strategy of his predecessor Mike Smith and began to turn his focus and commitment to the bank's domestic market, reversing several years of work to build a significant pan-Asian footprint.
