HSBC bank sells Armenian business to Ardshinbank

HSBC has agreed to sell its Armenian operation to Ardshinbank as it continues to dispose of non-core businesses and tighten its global footprint, the British bank said on Tuesday (Feb 6).

The deal reflects HSBC’s ambition to redeploy capital from “less strategic businesses to higher-growth opportunities globally”, Tuesday’s statement said.

A spokesperson for HSBC said terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, would not be disclosed.

Ardshinbank, Armenia’s largest banking group, said the proposed acquisition would accelerate growth. It said HSBC Armenia had total assets of 290 billion Armenian drams (S$963.2 million), customer loans of around 185 billion drams and around 200 billion drams in customer deposits.

Latif & Company acted as exclusive financial adviser to Ardshinbank.

All HSBC Armenia staff and customer relationships will transfer to Ardshinbank on completion of the deal, which is expected within the next 12 months, HSBC said.

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Last May Reuters exclusively reported that HSBC was reviewing a possible exit from as many as a dozen countries after earlier announcements about selling off parts or all of its activities in France, Canada, Russia and Greece.

HSBC completed the sale of its French retail business to CCF, a subsidiary of My Money Group, on Jan 1. Canada approved the sale of the bank’s Canadian business to Royal Bank of Canada in late December. REUTERS