Bawag Is Lead Bidder For Barclaycard Germany: sources (updated)

BAWAG AG

07/12/2023 14:02

(Adds comments, valuation, context on Barclays and BAWAG)
    By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Emma-Victoria Farr and Amy-Jo
Crowley
       LONDON/FRANKFURT, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Austria's BAWAG
Group  BAWG.VI  is the leading bidder for Barclays'  BARC.L 
German consumer finance business, three people close to the
matter told Reuters on Thursday.
    The bank has been competing for the German business,
formerly known as Barclaycard Germany, against Credit Agricole
 CAGR.PA  and a private equity consortium of Warburg Pincus and
Centerbridge, the sources said, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
    Bids were in the region of 500 million euros ($538 million),
one of the sources said.
    The talks are at an advanced stage but there is no certainty
of a deal being agreed, the sources cautioned.
    Representatives for Barclays, BAWAG, Credit Agricole and
Warburg Pincus declined to comment. Centerbridge did not respond
immediately to requests for comment.
    A sale of the Hamburg-based Barclays unit to BAWAG would
give the Austrian bank the ability to expand its loan book and
customer base in the region.
    The Barclays consumer finance operation has about 700
employees and started operating in Germany in 1991. The
business, which offers flexible loans and payment cards to about
2.5 million customers, has about 2.5 million customers and
reported a loan book of 4 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) at the
end of June.
    Barclays has been cutting back its retail businesses in
Europe and the German sale was prompted by consumers' more
conservative spending habits since the COVID-19 pandemic.
    
($1 = 0.9288 euros)

 (Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London, Emma-Victoria
Farr in Frankfurt and Amy-Jo Crowley in London
Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain in Paris
Editing by Anousha Sakoui, Elisa Martinuzzi and David Goodman)
 ((anousha.sakoui@thomsonreuters.com;))