Transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year
Russell McVeagh has advised ANZ Bank New Zealand on its $762m sale of its asset finance business, UDC Finance, to Japan's Shinsei Bank.
The sale of UDC Finance forms part of ANZ NZ’s strategy to “simplify its business” and will release more than NZ$2 billion of funding – which the bank said would further strengthen its balance sheet position.
The team that advised ANZ NZ on the transaction was led by partners Ian Beaumont (corporate), Deemple Budhia (finance), and Fred Ward (tax), along with Hamish Beckett, Lucy Clifford, Kristina White, and Ryan Howlett (corporate); Jesse Fairley, Lucy Becke, Ling Yan Pang, and Millie Bidwill (finance); and Callum Burnett and James Horner (tax).
ANZ NZ CEO Antonia Watson, chief executive officer of ANZ NZ, said that the purchase of is a “significant vote of confidence in the New Zealand economy.”
“With a strong outlook for infrastructure and agriculture projects as the New Zealand economy rebuilds post-Covid-19, there is a significant role for UDC to play. As such, it needs an owner that can invest in and grow the business.”
Simpson Grierson assisted Shinsei Bank Group on the other end of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of this year.
