Bank of East Asia extends business review deadline due to virus

The Bank of East Asia

27/05/2020 12:47

HONG KONG, May 27 (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based Bank of East
Asia Ltd (BEA)  0023.HK  has extended by three months the
deadline for it to update shareholders on a review of its
business portfolios and assets due to the coronavirus pandemic,
it said on Wednesday. 
    The bank said in March it had agreed to carry out a review
of its businesses, pausing four-year-old legal proceedings
demanding change at the lender brought by activist investor
Elliott Management.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AX073
     Due to "impediments caused by the COVID-19 virus", BEA has
now decided to provide an update on the progress by Sept. 30 and
not by June 30 as previously announced, it said in a statement
to the stock exchange.
    Elliott has a near 8% stake in BEA and previously urged the
bank - whose main markets are Hong Kong and mainland China - to
explore putting itself up for sale in an open letter to
shareholders, in which it also said the lender was poorly run.  
  
    Profit at BEA, which has hired Goldman Sachs  GS.N  to
assist with the business review, halved in 2019 due to a
significant rise in impairment losses in its mainland China
business.    

 (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Jan Harvey)
 ((sumeet.chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com; +852-2847 2094;))