HSBC Holdings yesterday drew a line under its recent acquisition spree, saying it was no longer 'hungry' for deals.
Speaking at the group's annual meeting in London, chairman Sir John Bond appeared to call an end to a recent string of deals. In the past year it has spent US$9.8 billion buying Republic New York Holdings and its sister bank Safra Republic Holdings.
This was later followed by an 11 billion euro (about HK$77.6 billion) acquisition of Credit Commercial de France, while earlier this month it bought 11 Chase Manhattan Bank branches in Panama.
It also recently struck a deal to take a 75 per cent stake in Bangkok Metropolitan Bank in Thailand.
'After this busy period, I cannot rule out further initiatives, but we are not hungry for more acquisitions,' he said to shareholders.
'Your management team and group IT resources have been at full stretch, but they are equal to the task. The emphasis is now firmly on integration and successful execution of our strategy.' The comments raise questions about the group's Latin American expansion strategy, particularly in Mexico, where it has failed to build a network, and last month lost out to Banco Santander Central Hispano in a bidding battle for Serfin, one of the country's largest banks.