Standard Chartered considering spinning off PE unit
Standard Chartered is considering spinning off its private equity business, according to Bloomberg. The move is part of a wider plan to simplify the bank and reduce risk from non-core business. Standard Chartered has lost over 17% of its share price value in the past year, with the private equity business seeing losses due to tighter capital regulations. The $5bn assets of the private equity business would be managed by Joseph Stevens.

Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) is considering spinning off its private equity business, Bloomberg has reported. The potential move is seen as part of chief executive Bill Winters’ efforts to simplify the Asia-focused bank and reduce the amount of risk it takes.



Standard Chartered’s share price has fallen deep into the red in today’s session, alongside shares in other London-listed lenders, following news that US regulators were asking Deutsche Bank to pay a bigger-than-expected $14 billion to settle an investigation into its selling of residential mortgage-backed securities. As of 14:38 BST, the shares were changing hands 2.92 percent lower at 606.00p, as compared with a 0.26-percent dip in the benchmark FTSE 100 index. StanChart’s shares have lost more than 17 percent of their value over the past year, but have recovered nearly eight percent in the year-to-date.

Sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg today that the Asia-focused lender might exit its Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) business, as it faces tougher capital rules and losses from the unit. The people noted that SCPE’s managers, led by Joseph Stevens, would take control of a business that oversees about $5 billion of assets.

Simon Kutner, a spokesman for StanChart, told the newswire in an emailed statement that the lender was “looking at non-core businesses, or those that do not sit within our tightened risk tolerance”. The news comes with the group’s new chief executive Bill Winters looking to restructure $100 billion in risk weighted assets.

“I’d view any potential disposal as an attempt to both de-risk the business and make the attainment of management’s return targets more credible,” Ian Gordon, an analyst at Investec, told Bloomberg. “This potentially makes sense, dependent on pricing, but the key challenge for the bank remains revenues.”

As of 15:09 BST, Friday, 16 September, Standard Chartered PLC share price is 641.55p.

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