The Barclays logo is seen outside a branch of the bank in central London October 30, 2014. Barclays Plc set aside 500 million pounds ($800 million) in the third quarter to cover potential fines for rigging currency markets, taking the shine off a rise in profits as its retail business performed well and costs were cut. The British bank on Thursday joined other big rivals in signalling that a settlement over alleged manipulation of the $5.3 trillion-a-day foreign exchange market is near with regulators in both the United Kingdom and the United States. REUTERS/Toby Melville (BRITAIN - Tags: BUSINESS CRIME LAW) - RTR4C7VN MILAN (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) is in talks to sell Italian performing mortgages worth 4 billion euros ($4.46 billion), two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the British bank presses ahead with the sale of European assets. Potential bidders have a Thursday deadline to submit binding offers, they said, adding that the deal is part of a plan to sell a wider portfolio of Italian mortgages. U.S. money manager Christofferson, Robb & Company, a duo comprising U.S. hedge fund Elliot Management and Italian credit firm Fonspa, and a bidding group made up of private equity firm Oaktree and Italian bank Creval CRVI.MI are in the race, one of the sources said. A spokeswoman for Barclays in Italy and the potential bidders declined to comment. Barclays said last year it planned to sell its continental European retail banking operations and had put them in a non-core unit with other assets it intended to sell or run down. The bank has sold its retail banking operations in Spain and Portugal – but kept some activities, such as investment banking and credit cards – and is still looking to sell assets in Italy and France. Barclays said it had 11.9 billion pounds ($18.27 billion) of residential mortgage exposure in Italy at the end of June, down from 13.5 billion pounds at the start of the year. Additional reporting by Luca Trogni in Milan and Steven Slater in London, writing by Danilo Masoni
Barclays is seeking to sell a portfolio of Italian performing mortgages worth € 4bn ( $ 4.46bn ) , as part of its ongoing process of disposing of its non - core assets in Europe . Potential bidders include a joint collaboration of Elliot Management and Fonspa , partners , Robb & partners , and another group made up of Oaktree and Creval CRVI.MI . Barclays has already expanded its retail banking operations in Spain and Portugal , and is looking to sell assets in Europe , as well as Italy , though it has held onto some assets like investment banking and credit cards .