Maybank buys 15% stake in MCB Bank, Pakistan's largest bank for RM2.17 Billion

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) -Malayan Banking Bhd is buying an initial 15 percent stake in MCB Bank Ltd, Pakistan's largest bank, for RM2.17 billion, it was announced Monday.Maybank president and chief executive Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said the bank was looking to acquire up to 20 percent of shares in MCB Bank from Nishat Group.Nishat is a conglomerate with interests in textiles, cement and the financial sector.He said the proposed acquisition of the remaining five percent would be conducted in the next one year.MCB is Pakistan's largest bank in terms of market value and is worth around US$4 billion.With the acquisition, Maybank would be given the right to appoint two directors to represent its interest in the bank, he said.This will be another major foreign acquisition for Maybank this year.In March this year, Maybank, the country's largest lender, bought a 55.7 percent stake in Indonesia's sixth largest bank Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) from Singapore's Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd for RM4.8 billion.It also planned to tender for the other 44.3 percent stake held by the remaining shareholders of BII.Abdul Wahid said as part of the transaction, Maybank and MCB would also enter into a business cooperation arrangement which would include Islamic banking, retail banking, credit cards, asset management and Small and Medium Industries (SME) banking.