- (Reuters) -According to a Financial Times story published on Thursday, the leading bidders for the $10 billion U.S. student loan portfolio of credit card company Discover Financial are the private equity companies Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) Inc. and KKR.
- What capacity the two companies were collaborating in was not made clear in the report.
- Bids for the loan portfolio have also been examined by other PE companies, including Ares, Blackstone (NYSE: BX), Brookfield, Fortress, and Oaktree, according to FT.
- When Reuters reached out for comment, Discover Financial, Carlyle, KKR, Ares, Blackstone, Brookfield, Fortress, and Oaktree did not immediately reply.
- The purchase is expected to close later this month or in early July, according to FT.
- In November of last year, Discover Financial said that it was considering selling its portfolio of student loans, with the understanding that the loans’ servicing would be turned over to a third party as part of the deal.
- The American consumer bank Capital One, supported by Warren Buffett, announced earlier this year that it would purchase Discover Financial for $35.3 billion in all-stock terms.
- The transaction takes place as U.S. President Biden’s administration’s regulators increase their scrutiny of bank mergers and as discussion over the advantages and disadvantages of bank mergers heats up after last year’s approval for JPMorgan and New York Community Bank NYCB.N to acquire bank assets that were failing.
Source:
investing
