Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Bank of America in Talks to Sell Investments to Blackstone

BofA in talks to sell investments to Blackstone

7:03pm EDT

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Bank of America is in exclusive talks to sell the bulk of Merrill Lynch's boom-time real estate investments to Blackstone for up to $1 billion (607 million pounds), the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The sale is still weeks away and would comprise between $800 million and $1 billion of unwanted property investments in Europe, the United States and South America, according to the newspaper, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The sale is part of the U.S. bank's wider efforts to dispose of non-core assets as it tries to clear up its balance sheet and bolster capital ratios.

The talks could still fail to result in a deal, according to the article.

The portfolio includes a collection of real estate debt and equity positions across different countries, ranging from non-performing loans in Italy to shopping centres in Germany and a Brazilian housing developer.

BofA agreed to sell its Canadian credit cards business on Monday to TD Bank and pledged to sell its UK and Irish card units.

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan)

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