StanChart to purchase AmEx Bank... minus card & travel business
The deal, which will give much-needed additional branch licenses in India to Stanchart, does not include its primary card and travel-related businesses. ...

MUMBAI/LONDON, SEPTEMBER 18: New York-based American Express Company (AXP) today agreed to sell its banking operations — American Express Bank (AEB) — to London-based Standard Chartered Plc in an all cash deal valued at about $860 million. The deal, which will give much-needed additional branch licenses in India to Stanchart, does not include its primary card and travel-related businesses. StanChart said AEB’s acquisition from American Express Company would be for a total cash consideration equal to the net asset value of AEB at completion plus $300 million in cash. As of June 30, this would have amounted to $860 million, it said. “The sale does not include any of our payments, including card and travel-related businesses in India, which are our primary businesses,” an AXP spokesperson said in a statement. “For American Express, the decision is in keeping with our strategic focus on the card payments, network and complementary travel businesses that are fuelling our growth,” the spokesperson added.

Commenting on the deal, StanChart CEO Peter Sands said, “The acquisition will add capability and scale to two of the Group’s strategically important businesses. AEB’s balance sheet is highly liquid and its income is predominantly fee-based. This is a transaction which has compelling strategic and financial logic and is management accretive.”

AEB, whose New York-based parent company AXP is the third-largest credit card network, is a leading international bank present in 47 countries, including India. Among other benefits, the acquisition will include valuable branch licences in India and Taiwan, subject to regulatory approvals, StanChart said.