Toronto
HSBC sells Canadian arm: HSBC, Europe’s largest lender, has sold its Canadian banking business to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for $10.1bn, says Ben Martin in The Times. The deal will boost HSBC’s first-quarter results by $4.9bn on 30 April and fund an expected special dividend worth $4bn. This would be on top of the proposed interim dividend expected in June. The sale was first agreed in 2022, but the Canadian government only backed the deal last December despite criticism that it could hamper competition. To placate regulators, Canada’s biggest lender by assets promised to provide $7bn to build and renovate affordable housing, donate 1% of its domestic pre-tax net income every year, and build a global banking hub in Vancouver.
HSBC is listed in London but it was founded in Hong Kong in 1865. It sold its Canadian assets following pressure from its largest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An, to spin off its sprawling operation in Asia to shield HSBC from increasing tension between China and the West, protect its dividends from British regulators, and unlock value for shareholders. In 2020, HSBC’s Hong Kong retail investors were incensed when the Bank of England forced big British lenders to scrap dividends during the pandemic. The Asia spin-off was opposed by boss Noel Quinn (pictured) and chairman Mark Tucker and failed to gain traction more widely, but it did cause Quinn to boost shareholders’ payouts. The sale of RBC adds to HSBC’s recent disposals of its struggling retail banking businesses in the US and France.
Beverley Hills
Technical knockout: Private-equity firm Silver Lake is taking talent and entertainment agency Endeavor private in a deal worth $13bn, says Reuters. Silver Lake, which owns a majority stake in Endeavor, will pay a 55% premium to the share price as it was before news of the plans were revealed last October. Hollywood power broker and CEO of Endeavor Ari Emanuel has widened the agency’s scope in recent years from one focused on screen talent to include sports and entertainment. He then took the group public in 2021 before separating out the “crown-jewel” sports asset Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and merging it with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) towards the end of last year under the separately listed TKO, which is not part of the deal, says Jennifer Saba on Breakingviews. Endeavor’s shareholders were left holding a “grab bag of assets” and this latest deal has left them “looking like chum for [the] sharp-toothed… Silver Lake”. The private-equity
