The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has reportedly sold a partial stake in a Malaysian lender.
ANZ has agreed to sell a 16.5 percent interest in Malaysia’s AmBank for around 2.1 billion ringgit ($444 million), according to a «Reuters» report citing a term sheet. The sale was made through a block trade and was larger than the originally agreed 9 percent stake. After the sale is completed on March 8, ANZ's stake in AmBank will decrease from 21.7 percent to 5.2 percent.
Three years ago, ANZ announced that it would write down the value of its AmBank investment after the Malaysian lender settled a claim linked to the 1MDB financial scandal. The latest sale is in line with the Australian lender’s strategy to boost its return on equity by downsizing business lines involving low-returning institutional loans as well as exposure to retail and wealth banking in Asia.
