In a follow up to an ABN AMRO announcement on 31 December 2003, the bank today announced that is has signed an agreement to sell its Professional Brokerage business in the US to Merrill Lynch.
The Professional Brokerage business provides securities clearing, trade execution and operational support services to participants in the US options and securities markets. It operates out of San Francisco, Chicago and New York.
Completion is subject to the usual closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and is expected to be finalised within three months.
The sale of this business will involve associated costs, including restructuring costs and asset write-downs. These costs will be offset by the gains from the sale of the bank´s US Prime Brokerage business, therefore the sale is expected to have no impact on the group for 2003.
Source: ABN AMRO
