THE troubled Saambou bank could have a new owner by the March 20, SABC television news reported. It said three banks were currently going through the bank’s books with an interest to buy. Saambou curator John Louw wants to sell the bank in one piece. ”We have instituted a process for the disposal of the bank, and several larger banks are under way doing the due diligence process. ”That should culminate in a bid by 20th of March, and then I will be able to adjudicate on that situation,” said Louw. He said that if the bids were not successful other plans would be considered, however, he would not elaborate. Jaques Badenhorst, an analyst from JPMorgan Banking, told SABC that Absa was an unlikely contender. ”I think that Absa is unlikely to make a bid considering it is working on it’s own issues with Unifer. That leaves FNB, Standard Bank and Nedcor, and in my opinion, it would most likely be Standard Bank and Nedcor out of the domestic Banks.” – Sapa
Wednesday February 27, 2002