6 June 2012
Barclays PLC
Absa Bank to acquire Edcon's private label store card portfolio
Absa Bank Limited ("Absa Bank"), a member of the Barclays Group, has agreed to acquire the accounts and receivables relating to the private label store cards of Edcon Proprietary Limited ("Edcon") in South Africa (the "Card Portfolio").
Absa Bank and Edcon have further agreed to enter into a long-term, strategic relationship under which Absa Bank will provide retail credit to Edcon customers and Edcon will be responsible for all customer facing activities.
Absa Bank will acquire the Card Portfolio for a cash consideration equal to the net book value of the Card Portfolio receivables as at the effective date of the transaction. The parties expect the purchase price to be approximately £0.8 billion (R10 billion)*.
Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions and is expected to occur during the second half of 2012.
- Ends -
For further information, please contact:
Barclays
Investor Relations Media Relations
Charlie Rozes Phillippa-Jane Vermoter
+44 (0) 20 7116 5752 +44 (0) 20 7116 6586
Absa
Investor Relations Media Relations
Alan Hartdegen Maxwell Pirikisi
+27 (0) 11 350 2598 +27 (0) 11 350 4787
About Barclays
Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.
With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs over 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for customers and clients worldwide.
About Absa
Absa Group Limited ("Absa Group"), the holding company of Absa Bank, is listed on the JSE Limited and is one of South Africa's largest financial services groups offering a complete range of banking, insurance and wealth management products and services. Absa Group's business is conducted primarily in South Africa. It also has equity holdings in banks in Mozambique and Tanzania, representative offices in Namibia and Nigeria and bancassurance operations in Botswana and Mozambique.
At 31 December 2011, the Group had 718,2 million shares in issue and a market capitalisation of £8 billion (R101,27 billion)*. The Group had assets of £60 billion (R786,7 billion)*, 12,1 million customers, 990 staffed outlets, 9 541 automated teller machines and 35 200 permanent employees.
Absa Group is a subsidiary of Barclays PLC, which holds a stake of 55,5%. For more information, please visit the Absa website: www.absa.co.za
About Edcon
Edcon Proprietary Limited ("Edcon") is one of South Africa's largest non-food retailers, trading through a range of retail formats. The company has grown from opening its first store in 1929, to trading in 1,167 stores in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia. Edcon has the largest retail customer database in South Africa which enables it to provide customers with relevant offers across its suite of retail and financial services products.
For more information, please visit the Edcon website: www.edcon.co.za
*GBP/ZAR Exchange rate of 13.086 on 31 May 2012 as per Bloomberg