HONG KONG/SINGAPORE, April 2 (Reuters) - Three banks areproviding a fully underwritten $4.95 billion bridge loan toSingapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd to fund its offerto buy Hong Kong-based Wing Hang Bank, according to sourcesclose to the matter.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and J.P. Morgan aresharing equal underwriting of the loan, the sources said, whichwill have a 12-month tenor.
The size of the loan, which is the same as OCBC's all-cash offer for Wing Hang, shows how frothy lendingmarkets have become, with heaps of cheap money sloshing aroundthe region and paying for large acquisitions.
BofA, HSBC, and J.P. Morgan didnot immediately return calls seeking comment. OCBC did notimmediately return a call seeking comment. (Reporting by Prakash Chakravarti of IFR/LPC and Saeed Azhar;Editing by Michael Flaherty and Ryan Woo)