January 25, 2012 3:20 PM
Linklaters Among Six Firms Advising HSBC on Sale of Latin America Unit
Posted by Brian Baxter
As part of its continuing effort to shed assets, London-based global banking giant HSBC Holdings announced this week that it has agreed to sell sale of its Latin American businesses to Colombia’s Banco Davivienda for $801 million.
Banco Davivienda will pick up 136 bank branches in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Honduras in the deal, which will increase the acquirer’s size by roughly 20 percent. Bloomberg reports that about $4.3 billion in assets and $2.5 billion in loans will also change hands in the transaction.
Linklaters and five firms Central and South American firms are representing HSBC on the sale. The company has been busy in recent months spinning off certain operations in a bid to cut expenses and raise cash in anticipation of increased costs in emerging markets and tighter capital rules in Europe.
The Banco Davivienda deal comes about a month after HSBC tapped Norton Rose to serve as outside counsel on the sale of the company’s Japanese private banking unit to Credit Suisse.
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