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Barclays’ Absa buys card firm
Barclays is set to snap up the private label store card portfolio of a major African retailer.
Absa, based in South Africa and 55.5 per cent owned by Barclays, will pay 10bn rand (£775m) to buy the portfolio from clothing and footwear firm Edcon.
The Edcon store card business operates mainly in South Africa, with smaller operations in nearby nations. Absa also plans to buy Edcon’s portfolios in the neighbouring countries but it is not a condition of the deal.