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UPDATE 1-Australia's CBA to buy BankWest for A$2 bln-paper

Mon Oct 6, 2008 6:21pm EDT

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(Adds CBA response)

SYDNEY, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA.AX) may announce on Tuesday a A$2 billion ($1.45 billion) deal to buy British bank HBOS's HBOS.L Australian unit BankWest, the Australian Financial Review newspaper reported.

"We do not comment on rumours and speculation," a CBA spokesman said in response to the report. CBA, Australia's No.2 lender, said last week it did not have an offer on the table for the West Australia-based bank, following a report in the same paper that it had offered up to A$3 billion.

"CBA is expected to announce as early as this morning that it has bought BankWest for about the value of its net assets," the paper said in an unsourced story on Tuesday.

BankWest's parent HBOS is being taken over by fellow British bank Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L) in a UK government-sponsored deal after it ran into funding difficulties amid the global credit crisis. ($1=A$1.38) (Reporting by James Thornhill and Mette Fraende)



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