HSBC in Talks to Sell French Retail Bank to Cerberus
March 17 2021 - 12:23PM
Dow Jones News
By Simon Clark
HSBC Holdings PLC is in exclusive talks to sell its unprofitable
French retail bank to New York-based private-equity firm Cerberus
Capital Management LP as part of a global reorganization of its
operations, the bank told employees this week.
HSBC, which once marketed itself as the world's local bank, is
withdrawing from retail banking in France as it scales back in
Europe and North America and boosts its presence in Asia, where it
makes most of its profit. The London-based bank also is considering
selling its unprofitable U.S. retail-banking network.
Cerberus plans to combine HSBC France with My Money Group, a
French lender it acquired in 2017 from General Electric Co.,
according to a message Jean Beunardeau, the head of HSBC's
Continental European operations, sent to French employees and
reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
"Discussions are still ongoing and are expected to be for some
weeks to come, and these may or may not lead to a transaction," Mr.
Beunardeau wrote. The proposed transaction includes HSBC's French
retail-banking and wealth-management operations but not its
insurance and asset-management operations, according to the
message. HSBC may continue to distribute insurance and
asset-management products through the French bank after the sale,
Mr. Beunardeau said.
European banks are selling or closing operations in an effort to
boost profitability. In December, HSBC rebranded its French unit as
HSBC Continental Europe and combined it with operations in Belgium,
Spain, Italy and other nations. The sale would unwind a continental
expansion that took root in 2000 with HSBC's $10.6 billion takeover
of Credit Commercial de France, which it won in a bidding war with
Dutch lender ING Groep NV.
Cerberus, which manages about $50 billion, previously acquired
Austria's Bawag Group and Germany's Hamburg Commercial Bank and
bought stakes in Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG.
Cerberus was competing for HSBC France with AnaCap Financial
Partners Ltd., a London-based private-equity firm that specializes
in financial companies, according to people familiar with the
situation. AnaCap planned to combine the HSBC unit with the French
retail operations of Barclays PLC, which it acquired in 2017.
AnaCap rebranded the Barclays assets as Milleis Banque SA.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 17, 2021 13:08 ET (17:08 GMT)
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