Bank || Two US investment funds are said to be “interested” in taking over Portugal’s condemned retail (high street) branches of the internationally-streamlining Barclays Bank.
According to Diário Económico, Apollo Global Management and Centerbridge Capital Partners have yet to enter into any kind of formal negotiations, but they are both interested in both Barclay’s Portuguese operations as well as the group’s banks in Spain.
Elsewhere, Angolan-owned BIC (Banco Internacional de Crédito) has already entered the fray, saying it has an interest in “some” of Barclay’s retail operations, with “people who are valid” also in their sights.
Head office plans to restructure beleaguered Barclays Bank were announced earlier this month and will be going ahead in Portugal in the medium term. All 147 of the bank’s branches are expected to be sold, with as many as 1,600 jobs at risk.
