UPDATE 1-HK Wing Lung bid deadline extended 2 weeks-sources
(Adds details, background)
HONG KONG, April 29 (Reuters) - The deadline for final bids in a near-$4.8 billion takeover battle for Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank Ltd 0096.HK has been put back by about two weeks until mid-May, sources close to the matter said on Tuesday.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (1398.HK) (601398.SS), the world's biggest bank by market value, is vying with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) (ANZ.AX), Australia's third-biggest lender, for a controlling stake in Wing Lung.
One of the sources said the April 30 bid deadline had been extended for "administrative" reasons and that the sale process was moving forward.
The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Bid-deadline delays in corporate auctions are common, and sources did not say the deal was in jeopardy.
However, ANZ last week posted a 14 percent drop in first-half core profit -- its first half-year decline in nearly a decade -- due to higher bad debt charges and a predicted increase in the number of new problem loans.
China's Bank of Communications (3328.HK) (601328.SS) dropped out of the running last week.
In ICBC, ANZ faces a massive, state-run rival with plenty of local ties and fewer concerns about price. Yet ANZ, under Chief Executive Michael Smith, previously HSBC's (HSBA.L) (0005.HK) Hong Kong-based Asia chief, is keen to expand in the city.
Last month, Wing Lung said its largest shareholders -- Wu Jieh Yee Co and Wu Yee Sun Co, which own a combined 53.1 percent -- were considering their options, including a sale of the family-run bank that could lead to an offer for all the shares.
Wing Lung's market value is $4.25 billion. Some analysts have said it may fetch $4.8 billion. (Editing by Tony Munroe and David Hulmes)
