ANZ may have a last-minute chance to make a credible bid for Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank, having been assumed to be out of the running more than a week ago given speculation on what one of the Chinese banks making a bid would pay.
Bloomberg reported that the Chinese government capped what China Merchants Bank and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China will be allowed to pay for Wing Lung.
The two state-owned banks were asked not to pay more than 2.85 times book value, Bloomberg reported.
The family of Chairman Michael Wu, seeking to sell its controlling 53 per cent stake, had sought at least three times book value, the news service reported.