<article>Shares of <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.sc.com/in/" target="_blank">Standard Chartered (StanChart)</a> were upgraded by broker <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.clsa.com/" target="_blank">CLSA</a> on expectations the UK bank&#8217;s &#8220;challenging&#8221; recovery could lead to a takeover by a white knight.</article>

Shares of <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.sc.com/in/" target="_blank">Standard Chartered (StanChart)</a> were upgraded by broker <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.clsa.com/" target="_blank">CLSA</a> on expectations the UK bank&#8217;s &#8220;challenging&#8221; recovery could lead to a takeover by a white knight.
Singapore&#8217;s biggest lender <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dbs.com/" target="_blank">DBS Group</a> would be the most likely buyer, added CLSA in a note to clients dated Dec 17. Asia-focused lender StanChart has seen its shares fall below a forward price-to-book value of 0.5 times this week, making it an appealing target.
&#8220;The bank&#8217;s road to recovery will likely be a challenging multi-year journey. But the worse the situation gets for StanChart, we believe the more likely it is that a white knight will eventually emerge,&#8221; CLSA analysts Asheefa Sarangi and Lester Lim wrote in the note.
StanChart didn&#8217;t immediately respond to a request for comment, while DBS officials pointed to an interview of CEO Piyush Gupta in September when he ruled out the merger of the two banks. Singapore state investor <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.temasek.com.sg/" target="_blank">Temasek Holdings</a>, the biggest shareholder for both StanChart and DBS, also declined to comment.
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Reuters

Shares of StanChart were upgraded by broker CLSA on expectations the UK bank's "challenging" recovery could lead to a takeover by a white knight.

StanChart shares upgraded by CLSA with Singapore's DBS seen as likely buyer

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StanChart shares upgraded by CLSA with Singapore's DBS seen as likely buyer

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