ANZ buys out joint ventures with ING for A$1.76 billion
25 Sep 2009
ANZ Banking Group Ltd has bought the remaining 51-per cent stake in its wealth management joint venture with Dutch-based ING Group for A$1.76 billion, the Melbourne-based bank said today.
Consequent to this, ING Australia Ltd and ING (NZ) Holdings Ltd will become wholly-owned subsidiaries of ANZ.
This is the second large acquisition the company is making after agreeing to buy RBS operations in six Asian countries for $550m last month (See: ANZ acquires RBS's Asian assets for $550 million).
The acquisition reflects an opportunity to bring certainty to the future of the joint ventures between ANZ (49 per cent) and ING Group (51 per cent) that were established in 2002, the bank said in a statement.
ANZ said the cash purchase price for the ING stake equates to around 11 times normalised 2008 earnings and 1.2 times as on 31 December 2008.
Consideration for the acquisition will be funded from ANZ's internal capital.
