crazy but DBS buy Citigroup?

fascinating thought by \'jayster\' at www.mojostock.com/forums/showthread.php?p=127663#post127663 Citibank, one of the US banks with strong branding and global reach may be sold as its shareprice slides to below US$4 or a market cap of US$21B. DBS is worth about US$10B. This is how cheap Citibank is right now compared to DBS ^_^ Clearly the vultures i\'ve talked about in this thread are clapping their wings as the share prices of brand name US banks tank. My guess is the richest countries right now in the Middle East, China or Singapore is going to buy up corporate american on the cheap. This is what happened during the Asian Financial crisis. US banks brought Japanese banks on the cheap. The private sector is better in gauging the valuation of investment then the government. The US should let nature take its place and let stronger banks in other countries take over their financial sector. This will bring back confidence as the stronger bank would have brought the ailing banks closed to their intrinsic value and the gov would not have to waste taxpayer\'s money to bail out hopeless banks. Imagine if DBS brought Citibank currently double it size with a US$2 cash cum 1 DBS share offer funded by capital injection of about US$10B from Temasek Holdings. The investors would clearly support this move as Singapore is seen as a prudent investor and stop the slide of Citigroup\'s share price. This move would bring back memories of NOL acquisition of APL which almost caused it to collapse. Furthur back in time, UIC\'s acquisition of Singapore Land is a similar move of a fundamentally strong company taking on immense amount of risk buying a bigger compeititor which happens to be in distress due to crisis. In times of crisis, there is immense opportunity. I hope my hypothesis comes true. Then my Citibank credit card will become DBS Citibank liao ^_^

I like this idea... Imagine Singapore finally gets to own a REAL GLOBAL brandname. But I seriously don\'t think that the US govt will let one of their most valued banking institutions fall into the hands of a non-US institution. Even if they want to, I don\'t they will even consider DBS. In fact, only Singaporeans want to bank with DBS. The Hong Kong people that I knew don\'t like DBS for their handling of the mini-bond issue. They prefer their Hang Seng, Dah Sing or even Fubon Bank.... DBS what?? I believe some of the Canadian banks may come into the picture if the US govt allows. They are financially stronger than our local banks.

Rather than DBS buying Citigroup, maybe there will be another round of consolidation in the banking sector. I remember PM Lee said before that there was only room for 2 banks in Singapore. Maybe DBS Bank will take this opportunity to buy... Say OCBC Bank or even Hong Leong Finance. Then we will have a replay of the DBS-UOB-OUB saga. That was probably one of the most exciting corporate take-overs that we have in Singapore.

If DBS buy Citi, it may be a chance for punters to finally be able to buy DBS at $1. Pandit can then change job to become news pundit on Channelnewsasia.

DBS buying Citigroup? I think DBS cannot even take care of its own backyard, lest to say takeover one of the most prestige brand in banking. After swallowing Dao Heng bank, DBS has yet to come to grip with the HK market. Do a poll among your HK friends for their fav bank. You probably get Hang Seng, Bank of China (HK), HSBC or even Dao Sing.... DBS is at the bottom of the list. In fact, in Singapore more and more people are switching to the foreign banks, who are more flexible and offer a more comprehensive range of services. I know friends who cancelled their DBS credit cards in preference of Citibank or Standard Chartered cards. Home owners who switched from DBS to Maybank mortgage loans. Looking at their tier-one ratio, I would not be surprised if they will spring a surprise and do a fund raising early next year. Temasek will surely come in to support. And our CPF monies are being used to support our national bank.

Maybe DBS will buy Hong Leong Finance. Hong Leong Finance belongs to another Kwek... In 2001, DBS paid US$5.7 billion to buy Dao Heng Bank from Mr Quek... Now 2008, maybe they will consider another consolidation. This time, for Hong Leong Finance which is owned by Mr Kwek too. Hong Leong Finance would be a nice acquisition target given the shrinking finance pie in Singapore with more foreign banks coming into the SME space. Just my 2 cent view. :laugh: :laugh: