While ANZ Banking Group homes in on a deal to acquire Suncorp’s bank, junior rival Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is stuck on the sidelines looking increasingly frustrated.
It is understood Bendigo made repeated approaches to Suncorp to try to negotiate a merger or acquisition, including as recently as last month, only to be rebuffed with zero engagement.Bendigo’s pitch was that acquiring or merging with Suncorp’s bank would create the elusive fifth pillar of Australian banking - a regional bank of scale that may be better able to compete with ANZ and its big four rivals.
Analysts reckon a combined Bendigo/Suncorp Bank would be Australia’s fifth-largest lender with more than 3 million customers, $125 billion in loans and 500-odd branches. It would put Bendigo’s strength in Victoria and NSW with Suncorp’s Queensland/NSW heavy portfolio and promise potential revenue and cost synergies for shareholders.
It’s not a new idea; the two regional have held merger talks in the past. However, it was never the right time for both, and Suncorp hadn’t been committed to offload its bank and focus solely on general insurance.Sources said Bendigo, advised by Bank of America and Gilbert + Tobin, got serious with an approach in February, and made another attempt as recently as June when
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