The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) share price is pushing higher on Thursday morning.
At the time of writing, the regional bank's shares are up 1% to $9.38.
This makes the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share price the strongest performer among the major banks.
Why is the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share price rising?
Investors have been bidding the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share price higher in response to the release of an announcement.
According to the release, the company has agreed to acquire the investment lending portfolio of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ).
Management believes the acquisition will allow Bendigo and Adelaide Bank to further grow its Leveraged Equities margin lending business. It is already one of the leading and longest established margin lenders in Australia.
The ANZ investment lending portfolio has a value of approximately $715 million, with approximately 11,900 customer facilities. As a result, this acquisition is expected to take the combined value of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's margin lending portfolio to more than $2 billion at completion.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will pay an "immaterial premium over book value" for the investment lending portfolio, which will be funded through the ordinary course of business operations.
Pleasingly, the acquisition of this high return portfolio is aligned with the bank's objective of growing its return-on-equity and will be earnings accretive upon completion
The deal is expected to complete in the first half of calendar year 2023.
'A strong future'
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's managing director and CEO, Marnie Baker, spoke positively about the acquisition. She said:
In line with our vision to be Australia's leading bank of choice, the acquisition will strengthen Leveraged Equities' position as an industry leader in margin lending and enhance the scale of our existing operations.
The portfolio we are acquiring is well established and primarily comprises retail customers which will complement Leveraged Equities' client base of professionals and clients under advice. We believe there is a strong future for Margin Lending in Australia, and this acquisition will create further opportunities for growth.
