In a statement issued through the Church’s media network, APS Bank has announced it has withdrawn its bid to buy HSBC Malta.
APS Bank is blaming its decision on due diligence after it was granted access to HSBC Malta’s internal data.
HSBC Malta is more than twice the size of APS Bank and many professionals in the finance industry had serious doubts whether APS Bank even had the capability of acquiring HSBC Malta.
HSBC Malta is Malta’s second largest commercial and retail bank while APS Bank has very little experience in business and commercial banking. It’s board of directors lacks experience in both commercial and investment banking, while the only investment banker on its board has a very horrible financial and reputational history. APS Bank is in no position to make any claims about “due diligence” on HSBC Malta and if anything, this just sounds like an excuse to back out of a bid it could never ever fulfill. APS Bank isn’t even doing well according to its own books.
It’s worth noting that APS Bank’s own statement explaining its withdrawal from the attempt to acquire HSBC Malta is a clear testament to the bank’s lack of experience in doing any commercial and investment banking. APS entered into preliminary acquisition discussions, only to later withdraw and publicly discredit its prospective counterpart through vague “due diligence” concerns. This behaviour raises serious questions about APS’s capacity to engage in high-level banking transactions. Who would want to enter into business with someone like that?
OTP Bank and a consortium of known Maltese businessmen remain the only known bidders vying for the bank.
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