Citigroup Inc. (C) is buying a portion of Societe Generale SA's
(SCGLY, GLE.FR) portfolio of shipping loans, joining the group of
U.S. banks buying businesses and assets from shrinking European
banks.
The two banks said they won't disclose the terms of the deal,
and a short statement from Citi only said the two "are committed to
working in a coordinated manner in order to make the transition as
timely and efficient as possible for the borrowers."
A person familiar with the matter said Citi paid $1.3 billion
for the loans.
The sale was earlier reported by Reuters.
Many U.S. bankers have said they're interested in buying assets
and businesses European banks are trying to shed in their effort to
built capital. While some bankers simply take advantage of better
loan pricing as European banks stop competing for borrowers in the
U.S., others, particularly Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), have been
aggressively buying portfolios.
Competition was strong from U.S. banks for Royal Bank of
Scotland Plc's (RBS, RBS.LN) aviation-leasing business, which
eventually went to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (SMFG,
8613.TO).
Earlier this week, Eurohypo AG sold $760 million in commercial
real estate loans in major markets around the U.S. to U.S. Bancorp
(USB), Wells Fargo and Blackstone Group LP (BX) for out 95 cent on
the dollar.
Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf and Chief Financial
Officer Timothy Sloan have repeatedly said the San Francisco
bank--the fourth largest by assets in the U.S.--is looking to buy
more U.S. assets from European banks.
It got $15 billion of loans when it bought BNP Paribas SA's
(BNPQY, BNP.FR) energy lending business, and loans from Allied
Irish Banks (AIBYY, ALBK.DB) and Bank of Ireland. Mr. Stumpf told
investors in May, "As Europe continues to retreat back to their
home countries and divest and so forth, we've been kicking tires
and we've actually bought a few things that we really liked."
Write to Matthias Rieker at matthias.rieker@dowjones.com