PNB: It's right time for RHB-AMMB merger

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said it is the right time for RHB Bank Bhd and AMMB Holdings Bhd to merge, given the current valuation of both entities.
"Given that the valuation is about one time book, it is probably the right time to do a merger," he told reporters at a briefing on PNB's five-month performance today.
Abdul Wahid was former Malayan Banking Group (Maybank) president and CEO.
RHB and AMMB, who are in the midst of negotiating a merger, are trading at price-to-book valuation of 0.97 times and 0.98 times respectively.
"The proposed merger between RHB and AMMB, that is very much a commercially driven transaction. If you were to apply from the perspective of a shareholder, we will always be supportive of any transaction that will add value to the shareholders," said Abdul Wahid.
He said the size of the two entities are quite comparable and the challenge would be how they manage the duplication in terms of resources, branch network, people, systems and others.
"I think there is a lot of hard work that they have to do to work out the merger effectively," he added.