Axis Bank Ltd is nearing a deal to buy Citigroup Inc’s India retail banking business in a transaction that could be valued at about US$2.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.
An agreement for the consumer unit could be announced within the next few weeks, and is contingent on approval from the Reserve Bank of India, the people said on the condition of anonymity.
The deal would include a cash component of less than US$2 billion, accounting for the consumer business’ liabilities, they said.
Photo: Reuters
The Indian lender emerged as the buyer after beating out rivals, with factors such as job security for Citigroup employees and competition concerns being taken into account, one of the people said.
Axis Bank would need about six months to merge its consumer business in the country with Citigroup’s, a different person said.
While talks are advanced, as with all deals, an agreement could be delayed or fall apart. Representatives for Axis Bank and Citigroup declined to comment.
The planned India retail sale is said to be a part of a restructuring to simplify the US lender, do away with its retail banking operations in 13 countries across Asia and Europe, and focus on high-growth businesses such as wealth management.
Axis Bank, India’s third-largest private-sector lender, has been trying to boost retail loans to tap pent-up demand after the first two waves of COVID-19.
Mumbai-based Axis Bank said last month that quarterly profit more than tripled on robust earnings from lending and its non-core business, including fees and trading, as the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic helped revive consumer demand.
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS