PBBANK's acquisition of LPI is viewed positively by the analytics community

Among them, an analyst at Galaxy International Securities pointed out that Public Bank carried out the acquisition at a significant discount, and at the same time used domestic capital to finance it, which made him optimistic about this acquisition.

“Compared to Lun Ping's average share price over the past year, Public Bank's bid price of RM9.80 per share is equivalent to a discount of more than 20%, which is a surprise for us.”

He added that with internal financing, the cost of financing will be lower than borrowing or issuing new shares.

Meanwhile, according to calculations, the analyst indicated that after acquiring Lun Ping's 44.15% stake, the net profit of Public Bank in the 2025 fiscal year is expected to rise slightly by 1.7%.

An analyst at Hong Leong Investment Bank emphasized that the acquisition of Lun Ping by Public Bank was a complete accident.

“Most domestic banks regard insurance business as a non-core business, so this major acquisition by Public Bank is surprising. However, the huge 25% discount on the purchase price was an unexpected surprise.”

Furthermore, Kennag Investment Bank analysts generally viewed Dazhong Bank's acquisition of Lun Ping positively, but they believed that Popular Bank's bid for a full purchase was unreasonable, and suggested that Lun Ping's minority shareholders refuse to accept the offer.

Galaxy International Securities, CIMB and Kennag Investment Bank maintained Popular Bank's “buy” or “surpass the market” rating, while Hong Leong Investment Bank maintained the stock's “hold” rating. The target prices were RM5.40, RM5.60, RM5.10, and RM4.90, respectively.

However, according to a Bloomberg report, today J.P. Morgan Chase and Societe Generale Investment Bank both downgraded Public Bank to “Nghe”. Among them, J.P. Morgan gave the stock a target price of RM4.60.