This morning the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) share price has pushed higher after the banking giant announced that it has completed its latest asset divestment.
At the time of writing the bank's shares are up 0.5% to $28.04.
What did ANZ announce?
ANZ announced that it has completed the sale of its Retail, Commercial and Small-Medium Sized Enterprise (SME) banking businesses in Papua New Guinea to Kina Securities Ltd (ASX: KSL) subsidiary, Kina Bank.
Management advised that this will allow it to focus solely on its Institutional and Large Corporate banking business in the country.
ANZ Managing Director, Institutional Australia and PNG, Graham Turley, said: "ANZ is committed to running a world-class Institutional bank across our International network, in line with our strategy of simplifying our business and focusing on customers driven by trade and capital flows. We have been in PNG for 109 years and we continue to see significant opportunities for business and economic growth through long-term investment and support of the resources, energy, infrastructure and agriculture sectors."
This follows previously announced sales of its retail and wealth businesses in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as joint venture stakes in ANZ Royal in Cambodia and Metrobank Card Corporation in the Philippines.
The Kina Securities share price has also pushed higher this morning on the news. It is up almost 1% to $1.37 after management described the deal as a milestone for the company.
Kina Group's CEO, Greg Pawson, said: "Completing the acquisition is a milestone for the Company and it represents a key component of our five-year strategic plan. It supports our objectives to deliver greater value to our customers and develop a more resilient and sustainable Group."
"It further strengthens our market position in retail, commercial and SME banking as we become the second largest retail bank in Papua New Guinea. The acquisition also provides scale to invest in new banking capabilities and improve the value of our product offering to new and existing customers through a national network of branches, ATMs and EFTPOS terminals," Mr Pawson added.
Should you buy ANZ shares?
Whilst this isn't a game changer for ANZ, I think is is another positive for the bank.
Overall, I continue to see value in the bank's shares at the current level, especially with the housing market looking like it may be on the verge of rebounding. This could support modest earnings and dividend growth over the coming years, potentially making ANZ a good option for income investors in this low interest rate environment.
