Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has offered to buy insurer Suncorp Group’s banking unit for around A$5 billion (US$3.40 billion), in what could be Australia’s biggest banking deal in more than a decade. The ANZ offer values Suncorp’s banking unit at a premium to its listed rivals on a price-to-book value basis. ANZ, the fourth-largest lender in Australia, may seek an equity raising of A$3.5 billion to buy Suncorp’s banking operations and has put its plan to buy MYOB on hold.
Suncorp, Australia’s second-largest insurer by market value, said it was conducting a strategic review of its banking operations to focus on its top-revenue generating insurance business. Suncorp’s banking and wealth unit contributed 40 per cent of the insurer’s total profit in fiscal 2021 and had loans worth A$58.39 billion as at Dec 31, 2021, mostly comprising home loans.