ANZ sells $8.2 billion loan portfolio

The big four bank said it has entered into an agreement to sell its Esanda Dealer Finance portfolio to Macquarie Group Limited.

The portfolio includes net lending assets of $7.8 billion, comprising retail point-of-sale auto finance of $6.2 billion, and wholesale bailment facilities and other Esanda branded finance offered to motor vehicle dealers of $1.6 billion.

The total purchase price for the portfolio is $8.23 billion.

“The sale of the Esanda Dealer Finance portfolio reflects a continued focus by ANZ on core businesses and further strengthens our capital position,” ANZ CEO Australia Mark Whelan said.

“Macquarie’s expertise, scale and reach mean they are ideally placed to continue providing high levels of support to dealer and auto finance customers.”

Following completion, ANZ’s Common Equity Tier 1 ratio is expected to increase by approximately 20 basis points, the group said in an ASX statement today. 

The sale does not include ANZ's commercial broker, commercial asset finance or direct-to-consumer asset finance businesses. The sale of the retail portfolio is expected to complete by 31 October 2015 with the wholesale portfolio expected to be complete, in phases, by 31 March 2016, according to ANZ. 

In a trading update today, Macquarie announced its intention to conduct an institutional placement to raise $400 million for the acquisition of the ANZ business.

The placement will be conducted by way of an institutional bookbuild. A share purchase plan (SPP) will also be offered to eligible shareholders.

Further details of the SPP will be revealed following Macquarie’s 1H16 result announcement on 30 October 2015.

Upon completion of the acquisition, the total motor vehicle finance portfolio managed by Macquarie Leasing would increase from $9 billion to approximately $17 billion.