ANZ close to selling NZ finance company UDC - report

UDC specialises in providing finance for heavy machinery. Photo / File

ANZ Banking Group is close to selling its New Zealand finance company, UDC Finance, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported.

Indicative bids for ANZ's UDC Finance, in a process managed by Morgan Stanley, are due on Friday, the paper said.

An ANZ spokesperson in Auckland said the bank does not comment on speculation.

ANZ came close to selling UDC - which specialises in providing finance for the transport, forestry, agriculture and manufacturing industries - to China's HNA for $660 million in 2017 before the Overseas Investment Office rejected its application.

At the time, HNA was China's largest non-bank leasing company operating one of the world's largest aviation finance businesses as well as one of the world's largest container leasing businesses.

The planned UDC purchase was one of several big acquisitions undertaken by HNA around the world, including a big stake in Hilton Worldwide Holdings and Deutsche Bank.

Mounting debt later saw HNA embark on a widespread asset sales programme.

In addition to its debt woes, HNA chairman Wang Jian died during a business trip to France in July last year in what appeared to be an accidental fall while posing for a photograph.

ANZ bought UDC in 1980.