UPDATE 1-Maybank shares slide after Pakistan buy

(Adds brokerage comments, background)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Reuters) - Shares in Malaysia's largest lender, Malayan Banking (Maybank) (MBBM.KL), touched a 4-1/2-year low on Tuesday after it bought a 15 percent stake in Pakistan's MCB Bank (MCB.KA), its third acquisition in two months.

Maybank paid a high price for the stake and may have to cut the proportion of profits it pays out as dividends as well as raise capital to restore its balance sheet, bank analysts said. Maybank shares opened down 5.6 percent at 7.55 ringgit, its lowest level since November 2003. By 0157 GMT, the stock had regained some ground to stand at 7.75 ringgit, down 3.1 percent.

"Maybank is out on a spending spree with another record high acquisition," TA Research said in a note to investors on Tuesday.

It said the cost of Maybank's three rapid-fire acquisitions meant the bank may miss its stated dividend payout ratio of 60 percent for the year to end-June. Maybank would also need to issue new shares to restore its balance sheet, TA added.

Maybank said on Monday it agreed to buy into Pakistan's biggest listed lender for $680 million, or around 5.13 times book value. This was near the top end of recent deals in Pakistan, home to a fast-growing and profitable banking sector.

In March, Maybank bought a 15 percent stake in Vietnam's An Binh Bank and a controlling stake in Indonesia's sixth-largest bank, Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) (BNII.JK).

The deals have cost Maybank around $3.5 billion in cash -- a rapid reply to years of criticism from analysts and investors who felt Maybank lacked ambition.

As regional rivals such as Singapore's DBS Bank (DBSM.SI) and local competitors such as Bumiputra Commerce Holdings BUCM.KL moved offshore several years ago, Maybank stayed at home in an increasingly mature and competitive marketplace.

Maybank is now paying the price of moving so late, analysts say, noting that emerging market bank valuations are sky-high.

"We view this acquisition as expensive given imminent macroeconomic headwinds in Pakistan and a lack of immediate synergy between Maybank, BII and MCB," Citigroup said in a note.

It cut its target price for Maybank to 7.60 ringgit per share from 8.38 ringgit previously and kept its sell recommendation.

"We reduce our target price to account for a lower dividend payout of 50 percent from 55 percent earlier," it added.

TA Research set a target price of 7.30 ringgit on the stock and also kept its sell recommendation. (Reporting by Mark Bendeich, editing by Naveen Thukral & Ian Geoghegan)