The bank entered into an agreement with Lloyds Banking Group to acquire CFAL and BOSI in early October and the deal received approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in December.
Westpac announced the completion of the transaction in a statement on the ASX yesterday.
Speaking to InvestorDaily, Westpac general manager, customer experience and contact centres Andrew Moore said the acquired businesses have been separated and “aligned with the relevant parts of the Westpac Group in order to deliver the best outcomes for customers”.
He said the ACCC approval had helped simplify the acquisition process as it meant the transaction was not subject to any restrictions.
Mr Moore said Westpac was pleased to have met its completion target date of 31 December 2013, and that the acquired businesses were now operating successfully under the Westpac Group.
The deal, worth $1.45 billion, was funded entirely from Westpac’s internal resources, according to a statement released by Westpac in October.
CFA holds a total of $6.8 billion in receivables, with $3.9 billion in a motor vehicle finance book and $2.9 billion in an equipment finance book.
The BOSI corporate loan book has an asset base of $1.6 billion.
Westpac Group chief financial officer Phil Coffey said the acquisition represents a significant milestone for the Westpac Group.
“The CFAL and BOSI businesses complement existing St George and Westpac institutional bank operations and will expand our capabilities in target segments,” said Mr Coffey.
He said Westpac is focused on working closely with CFAL and BOSI customers to “ensure continuity of high quality customer service”.
According to Westpac, the transaction is estimated to generate approximately $100 million in additional cash earnings for the company by the 2015 financial year.
Westpac chief executive Gail Kelly described the acquisition as a “value-creating, straight forward transaction that makes both commercial and strategic sense”.
“Importantly, the transaction meets our strict acquisition criteria and shareholders will see a benefit to earnings per share in financial year 2014,” she said.
