back to business

Suncorp won't sell the banking part of their business for NTA value to ANZ or anyone else.
Back to business now that the markets are supported by the governments....
Very unlikely that SUN will entertain any offers for any part of their business under current world market environment. Times like these are when they should be buying not selling.
Some good day trading opportunities :-)

From The Australian overnight.....
D-day for Suncorp on sale of Metway banking business

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Richard Gluyas | October 14, 2008

SUNCORP is likely to decide before the end of the week whether to push ahead with the sale of its Metway banking business.

The federal Government's measures to deal with the global financial crisis caused a surge in most banking stocks yesterday.

After an opportunistic bid by ANZ on Friday at less than net tangible asset backing, the Suncorp board, which met at the weekend, decided to reassess the environment for a demerger of the general insurance operations and a sale of the banking operations.

The bancassurance group said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that it expected to have discussions with various parties and update the market "in due course".

"In light of the significant events in world financial markets over the last week and the federal Government's constructive initiatives for the financial sector, Suncorp is assessing the implications for the potential sale of its banking and wealth management operations," the statement said.

Unlike the rest of the sector, Suncorp shares retreated yesterday to $9.05, down 22c, after hitting an intraday high of $10.03.

This was a surprise to most analysts, given that Metway, as a single-A rated bank experiencing funding difficulties with relatively weak provisioning levels, had the most to gain from the Rudd Government's guarantee of wholesale funding, announced on Sunday.

"The news was a major positive for Suncorp, and the stock should probably have performed better than its rivals in the sector," one analyst said.

"The only explanation is that the market took a dim view of reports that ANZ was the only bidder for Metway, and that the offer lodged was less than net assets."

Other banks, he said, were regarded as being out of the running for Metway, including Westpac due to its $17 billion scrip merger with St George Bank, and Commonwealth Bank, which last week agreed to pay $2.1 billion in cash for BankWest from distressed British seller HBOS.

With the local field narrowed to two, and National Australia Bank's scrip heavily discounted, the concern was that ANZ could be the only local buyer.

That said, a source close to Suncorp commented that the whole environment had changed since late last week, not only locally but also offshore after other sovereign governments introduced similar financial rescue packages.

"The ability of bidders to pay (for Metway) is very different now compared to what it was last week," he said.

"With the new environment, the board is reassessing what it should do."

Suncorp announced on Monday last week that it had received several approaches by parties expressing interest in acquiring its banking and wealth management operations.

While NAB, CBA and ANZ are, at various stages, believed to have expressed interest, only ANZ is understood to have lodged a bid on Friday.