HSBC is expected to sell its Australian loan portfolio, which is worth more than A$30bn, to the Blackstone’s private credit unit, reported Australian Financial Review (AFR).
Sources said the discussions are being handled by the same Blackstone credit team that has provided lending to Firmus, although with a different group of dealmakers.
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King & Wood Mallesons is acting for Blackstone. HSBC is being advised by Citi and Allens.
Westpac’s disposal of its RAMS home loan portfolio last year drew interest from KKR, Apollo Global Management and Cerberus. KKR also holds stakes in non-bank lenders Pepper Money and Latitude Financial.
The same names have also featured in the process for HSBC’s portfolio, as previously reported by this column.
Earlier this year, Citi began a new auction for HSBC Australia’s loan book after the bank’s London headquarters opted to narrow the scope of the sale.
Previous efforts to sell the full Australian business, including both loans and deposits, to National Australia Bank or Macquarie did not proceed.
HSBC is carrying out a broad global reorganisation under chief executive Georges Elhedery, who took the role last September.
In Australia, that has led to three significant steps: the retail bank was put up for sale, corporate lending was reduced, and the local management structure was changed by combining the chief executive and head of banking positions.
The bank’s Australian lending operations are now divided into three areas: debt capital markets under Andrew Duncan; structured finance under Visweswara; and leveraged and acquisition finance under Michael Rossiter.
In June, Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that Emirates NBD is in talks to buy HSBC’s operations in Türkiye.
In May this year, OCBC Indonesia signed a deal with PT Bank HSBC Indonesia to assume the assets and liabilities connected to HSBC Indonesia’s retail banking and wealth management operations there, known as International Wealth and Premier Banking (IWPB Indonesia).
HSBC’s Sri Lanka branch signed a binding agreement in September 2025, to transfer its retail banking operations to Nations Trust Bank (NTB).
In July 2025, HSBC disclosed its plan to withdraw from its International Wealth and Premier Banking (Retail Banking) operations in Bangladesh.
