OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Tuesday 5.40pm
THE Reserve Bank said it hopes to hand over a report outlining its recommendation on Nedcor’s hostile takeover bid for Standard Bank to Finance Minister Trevor Manuel this week.
”We have after consultation with the Competition Commission and input from the various banks concerned…written a report making our recommendation,” Christo Wiese, Registrar of Banks at the central bank, said on Tuesday. ”I still need to consult with my peers in the bank — I am hoping to do it [give the report to Manuel] this week,” he said.
A final decision on the R30-billion merger – which would be the biggest in South Africa’s corporate history – rests with Manuel following a ruling by the country’s appeals court late in March. Wiese said the report took into account the interests of the public, depositors, the concentration of power in the finance industry and systemic risk in the banking sector.
Standard Bank has rejected the all-paper bid from its smaller rival on the grounds that it would concentrate much of the power within South Africa’s financial services industry in the hands of Nedcor and its parent, Old Mutual Plc.
Nedcor, which made public its desire to merge with Stanbic last September, argues that a merger is in the interests of South Africa given the rapid pace of global consolidation. Standard Bank, also known as Stanbic, is South Africa’s second-largest by market capitalisation while Nedcor is third. — Reuters