StanChart set to acquire GE Money Singapore

The move is part of the GE’s plan to sell its noncore assets following the financial crisis.

Standard Chartered PLC plans to acquire GE Money Pte. Ltd., a unit of General Electric Co.'s GE Capital arm and a provider of auto and personal loans in Singapore, for 850 million to 900 million Singaporean dollars (about $662 million to $701 million), a person familiar with the transaction said Monday.

The move gives the U.K.-based, Asia-focused lender an opportunity to expand its consumer banking operations in the city-state, which like many other parts of Asia is booming despite lingering economic unease in other parts of the world.

"It provides opportunities for us to tap the mass affluent market and expand our market share in Singapore," Standard Chartered spokeswoman Gabriel Kwan said, though she declined to comment on the size of the deal.

GE Capital's divestment follows a similar sale to Standard Chartered Bank last year and comes as the finance arm of the U.S. conglomerate seeks to sell its noncore assets following the financial crisis. Early last year, the U.S. group sold its Hong Kong consumer finance business to Standard Chartered, without specifying the value of the transaction. Kwan said at that time the assets mainly comprised outstanding mortgages valued at US$1 billion.

View the full story in The Wall Street Journal.