Barclays (LON:BARC) have agreed to sell their French retail banks, as part of an attempt to cut down on unnecessary costs across its non-core assets.
British bank Barclays have reached an agreement with Anacap Partners, a private equity firm, to takeover the 74 French branches and acquire around 1,000 employees in the process. The deal has yet to be confirmed by industry regulators, but is set to become formalised in 2017.
Jes Staley, CEO at Barclays, said that the French division was deemed “no longer central to our strategy”.
“This is another positive step in reducing our non-core unit, creating a more focused, simpler Barclays, and thereby releasing the strong performance of our core business.
“The agreement to sell our French business completes Barclays’ exit from retail banking in continental Europe,” he maintained.
Alongside the selling of its French retail assets, the bank has also sold Barclaycard credit card operations in Spain and Portugal, as well as its stake in both Barclays Africa and its wealth management businesses in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Anacap Partners has been locked in exclusive negotiations with the bank over the French branches since the end of April of this year. The bank estimated that the deal would help minimize its risk-weighted assets by about £500 million and in turn, reduce costs by £130 million in its non-core divisions. According to the company’s July reporting, relating to its French retail unit, Barclays suffered a non-core loss of £372 million.
The bank is set to still continue to provide corporate and investment banking services in France, in spite of the sale. Shares in the bank are currently down -1.39 percent (1435 GMT).
AnaCap is a private equity firm that focuses upon European financial services investments. It is currently involved with the UK’s Aldemore, MeDirect in Belgium, Mediterranean Bank in Malta, as well as Equa bank in the Czech Republic and Nest Bank in Poland.