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First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC on Friday reiterated it has no plans for a possible takeover offer for Standard Chartered PLC, denying Thursday’s press reports. StanChart was the top FTSE 100 performing stock on Thursday, closing up 11% following a report from Bloomberg that Abu Dhabi’s FAB were pressing ahead with a potential $35 billion offer for the London-based lender. Bloomberg said FAB’s proposed acquisition of the London-based lender was still in play, after a move to put earlier takeover plans on hold ‘didn’t halt its ambitions to become a global financial powerhouse’. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-09/standard-chartered-is-still-in-play-with-fab-s-operation-foxtrot But FAB on Friday said its stance had not changed since early last month, when it said it ended ‘very early stages’ of evaluating a possible offer for StanChart. Also last month, StanChart Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters told the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland that he did not think a deal with FAB was likely. Even if it was ‘quite logical’ for for Middle Eastern banks to be interested in buying European financial institutions, due to their relatively low valuations, he added. StanChart’s market value is around $24 billion, compared to FAB’s $43 billion, Bloomberg said on Thursday, claiming the recent drop in the British pound added to its attractiveness, trading at just 0.56 times its book value. ‘This is not something we’ve either engaged with, or been interested in,’ said Winters in January. ‘The thing with Standard Chartered is we are doing very well all by ourselves. Everything is on track for us.’ Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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