In an event that could trigger the long-awaited next round of bank consolidations in Taiwan, SinoPac FHC and International Bank of Taipei IBT have announced they will merge.
The deal is being structured as a merger of equals - ie there is no acquirer and therefore no acquisition premium is being offered. This is the first such deal in Taiwan, although it is quite common in the US, where Bank of America and Nationsbank, for example, did a merger of equals.
Should the merger be approved at forthcoming EGMs in August, the new entity - which will retain the name SinoPac - will...
