KUALA LUMPUR (March 5): Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) is putting up 297.72 million shares in AMMB Holdings Bhd for sale, at an indicative price of RM3.80 to RM3.85 per share, according to a term sheet sighted by The Edge.
CIMB Investment Bank and BofA Securities are the joint bookrunners for the block of shares being put up via ANZ Funds Pty Ltd. The offer size ranges between RM1.13 billion and RM1.15 billion.
The offered price range represents an 8.3% to 9.5% discount to AMMB’s closing price of RM4.20 on Tuesday, down four sen or 0.9% from a day earlier, giving it a market capitalisation of RM13.92 billion.
The sale would reduce ANZ’s shareholding in AMMB to 12.7% from 21.7%. Currently, foreign shareholding in Malaysian commercial banks are capped at 30%.
The accelerated bookbuilding process is set to close on Tuesday night, followed by settlement on Friday.
ANZ has long made known its intention to let go of its block of shares, but there has been no buyers for its stake — the single largest in the sixth largest bank in Malaysia by asset size.
AMMB founder Tan Sri Azman Hashim is the second largest shareholder with an 11.8% stake, followed by the Employees Provident Fund’s 9.6%.
ANZ had, in the financial year ended Sept 30, 2021 (FY2021), written down the value of its investment in AMMB, following the latter’s RM2.6 billion settlement with the Malaysian government over its role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
The write-down reduced the carrying amount of ANZ’s investment in AMMB to A$719 million (RM2.21 billion) in FY2021, from A$1.06 billion in FY2020. By FY2023, the carrying amount had risen to A$881 million, from A$790 million in FY2022.
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