There’s big news in Europe, as the continent’s biggest bank has sold off two of its branded credit cards. According to recent reports, British Beneficial and Marbles branded credit cards were sold to specialist lender SAV Credit Ltd and completed for $385 million pounds or $796 million U.S.
In all, the account portfolios sold contained 338,000 accounts. The card portfolios were not an integral component of the former bank’s strategy for growing its credit card business. In fact, the bank still remains one of the four biggest card issuers in Britain and has over 10 million card carrying customers. When you’re talking about these kinds of numbers, selling 338,000 accounts doesn’t seem quite so impressive.
The bank acquired the Marbles portfolio when it purchased Household, a U.S. lender, in 2003. In April, Marbles was closed to new credit card customers. SAV, on the other hand, was founded in 2001 and specializes in “sub-prime” credit cards or those that are unable to obtain traditional credit cards. Since being started, the company has opened over 150,000 credit card accounts.
Since SAV is a relatively small credit card issuer, it is obtaining funding for the purchase from Royal Bank of Scotland as well as from its current equity partners. These partners include Electra Private Equity, Palamon Capital, and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners.
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