MyState Limited and Auswide Bank have reached agreement on a merger, the AFR’s Street Talk column reports.
The AFR reports the two boards have reached a binding agreement, so terms are likely to be announced before the market opens this morning.
MyState Bank, with $8.4 billion in assets, is a shade larger than Auswide, with around $6 billion in assets. My State also operates T PT Wealth, a trustee and wealth management company.
Both have been scouting for suitable merger partners for years, and even combined will be a sub-scale bank.
In late 2011, Tasmania-based MyState acquired the struggling Rockhampton-based ADI The Rock, based in Rockhampton.
So there may be some complementarity with the core central Queensland market of Bundaberg-based Auswide. Depending on how much of The Rock client list is left, since MyState closed its branches in Queensland some years ago.