THE merger talks between CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, RHB Capital Bhd and Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) are ongoing, with an announcement expected on October 8.
CIMB acting group chief executive Tengku Datuk Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said discussions are at the board of directors level and everything is still on the table.
“Nothing has been confirmed and talks are ongoing ... we still have time and there will be an announcement on October 8.
There will be no announcements before that,” said Tengku Zafrul at the launch of CIMB and Tesco Malaysia’s “Plug and Pay” online payment facility, here, yesterday.
CIMB, which is Malaysia’s second largest bank by assets, announced in August the proposed merger plan with RHB and MBSB, a move that could dethrone Malayan Banking Bhd as the nation’s top lender.
“The structure is not known yet. However, we do have the idea of a mega Islamic bank in mind.”
Commenting on a news report that talks have reached the government-to-government level between Malaysia and the Abu Dhabi ruler, Tengku Zafrul said: “You have to ask the reporters (who wrote the story).
“That is something I read in the newspaper and CIMB is not privy to the discussions.”
A business daily reported that Abu Dhabi has sent a letter to the Malaysian government on its concern that the Employees Provident Fund
(EPF) could be allowed to vote on the proposed merger.
Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment company, Aabar Investments, owns a 21.2 per cent stake in RHBCap.
The EPF is a common shareholder of the three lenders with a 41.5, 64.6 and 14.6 per cent stake in RHB, MBSB and CIMB, respectively.
Some parties are unhappy that EPF could be voting as it is seen as an interested party.
But the EPF said it should be allowed to vote as it has to protect the interest of its 14 million contributors.
Meanwhile, Tesco chief executive officer Georg Fischer plans to boost online home deliveries with the launch of it “Plug and Pay” service.
“Since the launch of Tesco online services last year, we have hit 4,000 weekly orders from among 150,000 registered online shoppers in the Klang Valley, Johor Baru and Penang,”he said.
The “Plug and Pay” service by CIMB is a chipbased mobile application that can be plugged onto smartphones and tablets to manage payments.