StanChart to take $160 million charge from private equity sale

Standard Chartered PLC has agreed terms for the sale of its private equity division, ending a more than two-year effort to shed a business the bank no longer deemed central to its strategy. StanChart will sell a majority of the private equity arm’s investment portfolio to funds managed by Intermediate Capital Group Plc, the bank said yesterday, a deal first reported by Reuters in August.

The bank said it expected to take a restructuring charge of about $160 million from the sale, but did not disclose the terms of the deal. Reuters previously reported that the main real estate assets in the portfolio were worth around $700 million. The assets ICG is buying from StanChart will be directly managed by Affirma Capital, a newly-formed company consisting of the former Standard Chartered private equity team.