(Bloomberg Report)
MCB Bank Ltd., Pakistan’s biggest by market value, and Habib Bank Ltd. are competing to buy Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s local operations as the U.K. lender seeks to raise capital following a government takeover.
MCB and Habib Bank, the second-largest, plan to apply to the central bank for approval to begin a due diligence review of RBS Pakistan, the lenders said in separate statements to the Karachi Stock Exchange today. The unit has a market value of 21.4 billion rupees ($266 million).
The purchase would give the banks an edge in a nation that forecasts an economic revival starting in the next fiscal year. Pakistan’s economy may expand more than 6 percent annually on average over the next five years, Shaukat Tarin, adviser to the prime minister, said last month, as the nation seeks $6 billion in aid from countries including the U.S. and Japan.
“Habib Bank would turn into the biggest by assets and deposits, while it is already the biggest by branches,” following a purchase of RBS Pakistan, said Farhan Rizvi, an analyst at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. The Karachi-based lender is interested in RBS’s market share in Pakistan’s consumer lending market, he said.
RBS, the U.K.’s biggest government-controlled bank, said in February that it plans to reduce operations in 36 countries in the Middle East and Asia and sell assets after posting the largest loss in British corporate history. The bank has received expressions of interest for its Asian unit, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said on April 3.
MCB and Habib Bank, the second-largest, plan to apply to the central bank for approval to begin a due diligence review of RBS Pakistan, the lenders said in separate statements to the Karachi Stock Exchange today. The unit has a market value of 21.4 billion rupees ($266 million).
The purchase would give the banks an edge in a nation that forecasts an economic revival starting in the next fiscal year. Pakistan’s economy may expand more than 6 percent annually on average over the next five years, Shaukat Tarin, adviser to the prime minister, said last month, as the nation seeks $6 billion in aid from countries including the U.S. and Japan.
“Habib Bank would turn into the biggest by assets and deposits, while it is already the biggest by branches,” following a purchase of RBS Pakistan, said Farhan Rizvi, an analyst at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. The Karachi-based lender is interested in RBS’s market share in Pakistan’s consumer lending market, he said.
RBS, the U.K.’s biggest government-controlled bank, said in February that it plans to reduce operations in 36 countries in the Middle East and Asia and sell assets after posting the largest loss in British corporate history. The bank has received expressions of interest for its Asian unit, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester said on April 3.
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