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ANZ may be about to take another step in its expansion into the Asian
retail banking scene, amid reports it is planning to take a minority stake in a
Thai bank that is still suffering a heavy bad debt burden from the 1998 economic
crisis in the region.
Since the start of the year, ANZ has formed consumer banking ventures in The
Philippines and China and looks set to continue the trend by taking a stake in
the Thai Military Bank, a full-service publicly listed bank with 358 branches
throughout Thailand.
According to a report in Thai newspaper Krungthep Thurakit, ANZ could invest
as much as 7 billion baht ($270 million) to take a 20 per cent stake and manage
the bank after the purchase.
The deal comes as Thai Military Bank is seeking to recapitalise and reduce
its loan loss provisioning to internationally acceptable levels.
An ANZ spokesman would not comment on ANZ's interest but the bank was
``continuing to look at a wide range of opportunities in Asia and is, from time
to time, talking to a number of organisations".
``As we have already flagged, our objective is to create a small number of
strategic options in Asia involving modest, low risk investments," he said.
ANZ, whose shares rose 3c to $18.58, is under pressure to find the next leg
of growth amid concern that mortgage growth may slow. However, there have been
some indications to the contrary, given some analysts now believe there is a
reduced prospect of a share buyback as ANZ uses capital to expand offshore and
provide capital for its domestic mortgage book.
ANZ reports its interim results later this month and has indicated it is
looking for earnings growth of around 8 per cent for the full year.
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