Hana agrees to $4.1 billion KEB deal

The deal, which comes just a day before South Korea ends the first round of a $6 billion-plus stake auction for Woori Finance Holdings <053000.KS>, will make Hana the nation's third-largest lender by assets, giving it more muscle power to compete.

ANZ, which was caught off-guard by Hana's bid last week, said on Thursday it would not make a rival bid as its evaluation of KEB's book did not support a competing offer.

Still, ANZ's defeat is a setback for the company, which aims to generate 20 percent of its profit from Asia by 2012, up from the current 14 percent.

"If a deal had been reached it would have been a plus (for ANZ). Now it is business as usual. ANZ's discipline here must be commended," Paul Xiradis chief executive at Fund Manager Ausbil Dexia said. Ausbil Dexia owns ANZ shares.

Hana shares declined 1.6 percent in afternoon trade on Thursday while ANZ ended up 0.9 percent as the only gainer among top Australian banks.

Hana, Korea's fourth-largest bank said it will pay 14,250 won per KEB share, or a 15.5 percent premium to Wednesday closing price. The takeover will give it total assets of 316 trillion won.

Bankers and analysts have said ANZ will now look for other Asian investment opportunities, including Indonesia's Bank Panin and Thai Military Bank

"Michael Smith knows Asia well," Xiradis said referring to ANZ's chief executive, the architect of the bank's Asian growth strategy.

ANZ also said it will remain focused on Asia.

"ANZ will continue to focus on organic growth in Asia and to evaluate strategic opportunities as part of its aspiration to build a super regional bank," it said in a statement.

(Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram & Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)