Hambros Near Sale Of Lending Arm

Hambros, the investment banking group, is close to an agreement on the sale of its corporate lending activities with Générale de Banque of Belgium. But discussions under way with other banks could lead to the sale of a larger part of the Hambros banking business, the company said Wednesday. The talks do not involve Hambro Countrywide, Hambro Insurance Services, the private equity investment business, or Guinness Flight Hambro Asset Management. Géné rale de Banque said its talks were still at a preliminary stage and only concerned a small part of Hambros activities. But other banks, thought to include Royal Bank of Canada, Investec Holdings of South Africa and Société Générale of France, are understood to be interested in larger portions of the business. Besides the units specifically excluded from the talks, Hambros includes private banking, corporate finance and a unit focusing on the private finance initiative. FT