MBSB active, up 2.78% on getting go ahead for M&A talk with AFB

KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 22): Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) rose 2.78% to 92.5 sen in active trade at mid-morning today after it received the green light from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to commence talks with Asian Finance Bank (AFB) on a potential merger and acquisition deal.

At 10.35am, MBSB was trading at 92 sen, up 2 sen or 2.22%, with 13.44 million shares done. It has a market capitalisation of RM5.2 billion.

MBSB said it plans to negotiate with the existing shareholders of AFB, namely Qatar Islamic Bank, RUSB Investment Bank Inc, Tadhamon International Islamic Bank and Financial Assets Bahrain WLL.

"BNM requires that the negotiations be completed within six months from the date of the letter," the non-bank lender said in a bourse filing yesterday.

The Edge Weekly recently reported that MBSB and AFB had written to the central bank for approval to start official negotiations in November, after Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd's plan to buy over AFB fell through earlier this year. — theedgemarkets.com