UPDATE 1-HK Wing Lung bid deadline extended 2 weeks-sources

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By Michael Flaherty

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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (601398.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's biggest bank by market value, is vying with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) (ANZ.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), 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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (601328.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dropped out of the running last week.