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The merger between two non-major lenders has been given the green light by Auswide shareholders.
Following a delay, shareholders of Bundaberg-headquartered lender Auswide Bank (Auswide) have now voted in favour of a merger with Tasmanian-based lender MyState Bank Limited (MyState) at a meeting this morning (3 February).
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As first announced in August 2024, the merger would see MyState acquire 100 per cent of the fully paid ordinary shares in Auswide.
In an ASX release, Auswide said 93.51 per cent of shareholders had voted in favour of the scheme, after being unanimously recommended by the Auswide board.
This vote follows last week’s confirmation that federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers had given the merger the go-ahead.
The scheme will now proceed to a hearing at the Supreme Court of NSW on Friday (7 February) to ratify the proposal.
Once ratified, the merger is scheduled to be implemented on 19 February.
What will the merged entity look like?
Under the proposed scheme, MyState would continue as parent company of the merged group, with Auswide becoming a wholly owned indirect subsidiary.
The merged group would have around 272,000 customers, a pro forma loan book of $12.5 billion (circa $8 billion from MyState and $4.5 billion from Auswide, both largely originated by the broker channel), net assets of $755 million, and total deposits of $9.6 billion.
Geographic diversification has been one of the main benefits expected to come from the proposed tie-up. Once merged, the new entity would have 34.4 per cent of its home loan distribution in Queensland, with a fifth in Victoria and another fifth in Tasmania.
Current MyState managing director and CEO Brett Morgan has been pegged to lead the merged group, with current Auswide chair Sandra Birkensleigh retaining her position in the new entity.
Focus on brokers
Last year, Morgan told The Adviser brokers would be the predominant channel for the merged business.
“Customers continue to choose brokers more and more because of the proposition they offer them and the choice they offer. For us, this merger creates a great ability to better compete for broker-originated business and be better partners than we are now,” Morgan said.
“So, brokers will absolutely be the predominant channel for the merged business.”
He said a merged entity “makes great sense” as it enables the two lenders to scale their businesses and invest in “strategically important initiatives, which include things like better digital experiences for customers, but also better origination platforms and integration with brokers”.
“One of the opportunities we’ve identified is being able to invest once into a more modern, better loan origination platform, which will deliver better service to our broker customers and their customers. We both see the opportunity to make a step change with that and only do it once under the merger, rather than twice,” Morgan said.
“So, this provides both of our businesses with some additional capacity to invest in a really, critically important technology and service that is important for us to keep growing up and down the eastern seaboard.”
[Related: Treasurer gives go-ahead for MyState-Auswide Bank merger]
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