appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

The hottest takeover talk in Hong Kong banking circles - bidding for the 64.8 per cent stake China Resources Enterprises (CRE) holds in Hongkong Chinese Bank (HKCB), has gone cold.

In its place the market was saying Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) was lining up a bid for locally listed Dah Sing Bank.

Yesterday, sources said bidders had misread CRE's willingness to quit at any price and had failed to come up with acceptable offers.

'They wanted at least 1.5 times book value and the best the bidders came up with was well below this,' one said.

However, HKCB managing director and chief executive Raymond Lee, said negotiations were continuing.

'There are always talks. I don't think you can say offers did not reach the price because frankly no firm offers are on the table,' he said.

'But this is a very fluid market here in Hong Kong, and we are always talking to people about various issues - both with a view to looking for partners and at other times to acquire.

'I wouldn't necessarily call the other side bidders because you never know what the final model would look like,' Mr Lee added.

The most aggressive of the local bidders, said by sources to be making a pitch to take control of HKCB, was Citic Ka Wah Bank, while three of the Big Four Singapore banks - OUB, UOB and OCBC - were also rumoured to be active bidders.

Mr Lee denied UOB was one of the parties with whom HKCB was talking.

'We have never been in discussion with UOB, not even casually, so I don't know where that one has come from.'

However, yesterday's rumours had UOB switching targets and making a pitch instead for Dah Sing Bank at HK$50 a share.

This was dismissed by one analyst as 'way too cheap if it really was on the table'.

Dah Sing's share price yesterday closed up HK$1 at HK$42.

Meanwhile, China Resources Enterprises probably has a minimum-price tag on its 875.7 million HKCB shares of about HK$3.38 billion - based on an historical book value of HK$2.92 a share and a multiple of 1.5 times.

Takeover talk has catapulted the HKCB share price from HK$2.02 on April 4 to a high of HK$3.92 on June 7.

But as news leaked into the market place that CRE was digging in its heels and bids were not meeting the multiples it demanded, the price settled back to HK$3.35.



Overtures for HKBC stake fall short on the price