Isbank Negotiates With HSBC To Acquire Pakistan Branches

Turkiye Is Bankası AS (ISCTR) is in talks to buy all of HSBC Holdings Plc. (HSBA)’s branches in Pakistan and negotiations are at an advanced stage, Isbank chief executive officer Adnan Bali said.

“We consider acquisitions abroad at the right price,” Bali told reporters at the opening of a branch in Istanbul dedicated solely to foreign companies yesterday. “When HSBC announced they were withdrawing from Pakistan, we wanted to be a part of the process. Pakistan is a market Isbank is interested in.”

Isbank, Turkey’s biggest bank by assets, told the Istanbul Stock Exchange on June 7 that it’s carrying out due diligence to buy some of HSBC’s branches in Pakistan.

HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, is in negotiations to sell operations in Pakistan and South Korea as part of plans to exit businesses that aren’t large or profitable enough, it said on April 10. HSBC has 10 branches in the country servicing about 33,000 consumers and businesses, it said at the time.

Isbank has two units in Russia and Germany and branches in countries including the U.K., France, Iraq and Bahrain, according to a written statement handed to reporters. Isbank’s Istanbul branch for foreigners started with 90 companies in its portfolio, Bali said. About 30,000 foreign firms operate in Turkey and the branch wants to attract some of them as well as those interested in Turkey, he said, according to Bloomberg.