Malaysia's CIMB to shut Australian investment banking operations

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SYDNEY, Feb 9 (Reuters) - CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, Malaysia's second-biggest lender by assets, said on Monday is was closing its investment banking operations in Australia following a review of its entire business.

On Friday, CIMB said it was looking to cut costs in the investment banking and equities segment by 30 percent this year.

"We have taken a long hard look at our Asia Pacific investment banking business," said Zafrul Abdul Aziz, CIMB Group's acting group chief executive officer. "The realities of today's capital markets and the absence of sufficient flows have directly contributed to this decision."

CIMB said the decision would impact the majority of its 103 Australian staff, who will be offered redundancies, some redeployment opportunities and outplacement support.

CIMB entered the Australian market in 2012 and a year later scored a surprising mandate to advise Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory Co, which was a target in a three-way global takeover battle.

That deal helped CIMB rank second in Australian equity capital markets during the final quarter of 2013, giving the company a 13.6 percent market share for the period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The deal also put a shine on CIMB's credentials in a country where its investment banking ambitions were just taking shape.

In 2014, CIMB benefited from what was Australia's biggest year of initial public offer activity on record, raising $494.3 million, the ninth most raised by an investment bank. It had no ranking in the previous year. (Reporting by Lincoln Feast, Colin Packham and Byron Kaye; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Paul Simao)