Reports of renewed interest from First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) in acquiring Standard Chartered could breathe new life into its stock, which has languished for years on stalled revenue growth.
Although FAB abandoned a formal bid for StanChart, as it is widely known, recent media reports have said that the Abu Dhabi bank is still interested in the London-based lender led by global investment banking veteran Bill Winters.
But any fresh takeover approach must remain on ice until a six-month cooling-off period expires, while a merger could expect to face a host of regulatory and practical obstacles.
StanChart declined to comment on the reports of a fresh bid, while FAB did not respond to requests for comment.
While StanChart's balance sheet, staff numbers and global footprint dwarf FAB's, it is worth half as much.
"This is an attractive deal for shareholders as Standard Chartered lags behind peers due to lack of scale in some of the key countries it operates," Viki Farmaki, an analyst at State Street Global Investors, said.
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