LONDON (Thomson Financial) - HSBC Holdings PLC is examining a sale of its
train-leasing division, the Sunday Times reported, citing bankers.
The move comes as Britain's biggest bank faces growing pressure to offload
noncore assets to raise cash after huge writedowns resulting from its exposure
to the US sub-prime mortgage market, the newspaper said.
The bank has already contacted potential buyers for HSBC Rail, including the
infrastructure and private-equity firms that showed interest in buying Angel
Trains, the UK's largest rolling-stock company, which is being sold by Royal
Bank of Scotland Group, the paper added.
The value of HSBC Rail is estimated at 1.5 bln stg, although a significant
proportion of this is likely to be debt, bankers told the Sunday Times.
nick.huber@thomson.com
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