Aberdeen sells its stake in Wing Hang to OCBC

ABERDEEN Asset Management plc, the third biggest shareholder in Wing Hang Bank Ltd, agreed to sell its shares in the lender to Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC), moving the Singaporean buyer closer to a full takeover.

"We've tendered" the entire stake that Aberdeen held in Wing Hang, Hugh Young, a Singapore-based managing director at the fund management company, wrote in an e-mail yesterday without saying when the sale took place. Aberdeen owned 7.4 per cent of the Hong Kong-based target as at July 1, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

The fund manager's decision came as Hong Kong regulatory filings showed that acceptances for the US$5 billion offer had accelerated in the past week. They had dragged earlier this month as Elliott Capital Advisors LP boosted its stake in Wing Hang to 7.8 per cent, which Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd said at the time could put pressure on OCBC to raise its HK$125 (S$20) per share bid price.