Dutch bank ING Group has reportedly left behind Bahrain’s Arab Banking Corp (ABC) and France’s BNP Paribas to emerge as leading bidder to acquire HSBC’s Turkish unit.
Three persons familiar with the development told Reuters reported that HSBC had narrowed down the field to one suitor, and it was ING.
In May 2015, HSBC revealed its intentions to sell its operations in Brazil and Turkey, shrink its investment bank and cut up to 25,000 jobs globally in a bid to slash costs and bolster returns to shareholders.
According to Reuters, currently ING Turkey has 319 branches across Turkey and employs over 6,250 people, whereas HSBC Turkey employs 5,536 people in 291 branches. The two lenders total assets are $15bn and $12bn respectively.
In case the deal materializes, the combined entity may outperform Turkish affiliate of French BNP Paribas, Türkiye Ekonomi Bankas? (TEB), and Denizbank, Turkish affiliate of Russian Sberbank, the publication added.
