Australian regional lender Bendigo Bank Ltd. (BEN.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), target of a A$2.5 billion ($2.0 billion) takeover bid from rival Bank of Queensland Ltd. (BOQ.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), said on Wednesday it had received no other proposals.
Managing Director Rob Hunt told a media conference that there had been several discussions about the future of regional banking, but there were no formal offers.
"We don't have any formal proposals that we are dealing with at this moment. Beyond, there have been discussions over a series of years actually with various parties about what the future environment might be," Hunt said.
On Monday, Bank of Queensland launched a stock and cash bid for Bendigo, potentially creating Australia's seventh-biggest commercial bank. Bendigo Bank said it would seek more details before advising shareholders.
Bendigo operates through a community-based business model while Bank of Queensland runs an owner-managed branch model, and analysts have raised concerns about the risks involved with driving the two models under a combined group.
"We will be looking closely at the implementation risk issues. We have got culture and business model differences," Hunt added. Bank of Queensland flagged A$70 million in cost synergies from the takeover, which it said was important for the future of regional banking given the changing landscape of the Australian financial services sector.
source:www.reuters.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment