Battle of the billionaires: OCBC locks horns with Elliott Capital over Wing Hang deal

The Singaporean bank is not backing down.

There is one big hindrance to OCBC’s successful acquisition of Wing Hang Bank. The Singaporean bank is not shying away from a battle with Elliott Capital Advisors LP, a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund that has so far refused to relinquish its 7.8% stake in Wing Hang.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Elliott could stop OCBC’s plans to delist Wing Hang if the fund manages to get a bigger stake or garner enough shareholder support.

“OCBC, Southeast Asia’s second-largest lender, offered HK$38.4 billion ($5 billion) for Wing Hang on April 1. By July 4, OCBC had garnered 50.4 percent of the shares, including those of Chairman Patrick Fung’s family. A few days earlier, Elliott had raised its stake in Wing Hang to about 7.8 percent, also paying HK$125 for each share in its latest purchase.The Wing Hang standoff wouldn’t be the first time Elliott has tried to use a stake to block a deal or push bidders to pay more,” the report stated.

Read Bloomberg’s report in full here.