Friday 29 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 26): RHB Bank Bhd expects to complete the disposal of up to 94.7% in RHB Insurance Bhd to Tokio Marine Asia Pte Ltd by the end of 2020's first quarter, as talks and due diligence on the proposed transaction are still ongoing.

RHB Banking Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said today RHB Bank is still in discussions with Tokio Marine, which has started due diligence on RHB Insurance.

"We hope to complete the discussion by end of October this year and make a submission of the proposal to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Ministry of Finance for their approval by November," Khairussaleh said at a press conference here today in conjunction with RHB Bank's announcement of its first half results.

Asked on the possibility of RHB Bank paying a special dividend from the insurance arm's sale proceeds, Khairussaleh said: "We have yet to come up to that point in time, because we don't even know what will be the valuation, and we need to look at what is our plan next year."

"So, it is a bit premature for us to answer," he said, adding that RHB Insurance contributes about 5% of RHB Bank's profit before tax.

On July 31 this year, RHB Bank said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia that BNM has no objection for the bank to commence negotiations with Tokio Marine on the proposed disposal of up to 94.7% of RHB Bank's equity interest in RHB Insurance.

The approval is valid for six months from the date of BNM's letter on July 29, 2019, according to RHB Bank.

Earlier today, the bank announced that net profit increased to RM615.41 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 (2QFY19) from RM570.26 million a year earlier.

For 1HFY19, it said cumulative net profit rose to RM1.25 billion from RM1.16 billion a year earlier.

At 3:52pm today, RHB Bank's share price climbed two sen or 0.36% to RM5.59. The stock saw 2.5 million shares traded.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share