Executives from Standard Bank are in Beijing for intensive meetings with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to hammer out details of a deal to sell the South African lender’s London-based commodity trading business to its biggest shareholder.
The talks have been off and on for nearly a year, but the visit to China by a large Standard Bank team signals that the two are near to closing the sale, according to two bankers familiar with the meetings.
The Standard Bank delegation is being led by David Munro, chief executive of the bank’s corporate and investment banking division. The deal to sell the trading business for up to $700m should be agreed within coming weeks, according to people familiar with the process.