M'SIAN BANKS LIKELY TO WITNESS NEXT M&A WAVE, SAYS DBS VICKERS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysian banks are likely to witness
the next merger and acquisition wave with changes imminent in strategic
ownerships, says DBS Vickers Securities.

The target banks would benefit from input the potential stakeholders could
bring to the table to improve stand-alone value propositions such as AMMB-ANZ,
it said in a research note on Asean banks Thursday.

RHB Capital, one of the cheapest large capitalised banks in Malaysia with
attractive valuations, is a bet for an imminent M&A play, DBS Vickers said.

It also said if ANZ were to raise its stake in AMMB, it sould see ANZ play
an even greater role in AMMB and this development would also be positive for
other banks that may be looking for new foreign strategic stakeholders.

Within emerging Asean, DBS Vickers still preferred Malaysian banks over
Thailand and Indonesian banks.

Although it liked Thailand banks for its investment recovery cycle and
stronger earnings growth, the event-driven catalysts in Malaysia are more
apparent providing both near and longer term valuation upside, it said.

"For our Asean picks, we have replaced Maybank with Hong Leong Bank as our
top pick among Malaysians banks for its strength domestically along with
Thailand's Kasikornbank Public Company Ltd, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and OCBC
Bank," DBS Vickers said.