Banco Hispano to Buy Chase Leasing Units
Chase Manhattan Corp. said it plans to sell its European leasing business to Banco Hispano Americano, Madrid.
The purchase price was not disclosed, but the U.S. bank said it will get approximately its cost. Chase said the asset value of the leasing subsidiaries is about $550 million.
The deal is expected to close by early 1992.
The portfolio represents the last piece of Chase's leasing business. Planned sales of the $2.2 billion domestic leasing sector were announced in August.
Part of Overall Effort
Chase's sales are part of efforts to restore financial health through the sale of nonessential businesses and cost cutting.
While the international sale will not add to Chase's thin capital base, it will improve capital ratios by eliminating the leasing assets, bringing total assets to $96.8 billion.
Banco Hispano Americano, which after its planned merger with Spain's Banco Central will be Spain's largest bank, has assets of about $88.5 billion. Its leasing, financing, and factoring services company currently has about $7.5 billion of assets.
