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17 October 2005
Standard Bank is in the process of acquiring ING's Argentine operation, subject to South African and Argentine regulatory approval.
If successful, Standard Bank will upgrade its present office in Buenos Aires to a fully licensed bank and increase its staff complement to close on 40. The bank has subsequently received several approaches to increase its participation in the Argentine banking sector.
Standard Bank today refers to an announcement by Bank of America relating to the potential acquisition by a consortium, led by Standard Bank and including the Werthein and Sielecki families of Argentina, of the business of its.
Also in Argentina, Standard Bank is leading a consortium to possibly acquire Bank of America's BankBoston Argentina branch.
Discussions are at an early stage and any agreement is not likely to be finalised until the end of 2005. It would also be subject to a due diligence exercise and all necessary regulatory approvals, in particular that of the South African Reserve Bank.
A further announcement would be made if and when discussions culminated in a binding agreement.
About the Werthein family
The Werthein family constitutes one of the largest economic groups operating in Argentina. Sole shareholders of Banco Mercantil until 1999, today their most important activities are:
Insurance: owners together with Generali (Italy) of Caja de Ahorro y Seguro S.A., the leading insurance company in Argentina, specialized in personal lines.
Communications: controls Telecom Argentina (largest telephone company) together with Telecom Italia.
Agribusiness: owns approximately 100,000 hectares of land and 50,000 head of cattle.
Other activities include a fruit dehydrating operation, a tea packing and marketing company and other small ventures.
About the Sielecki family
The Sielecki family is a wealthy Argentine family whose main business has been in the pharmaceutical industry particularly medicine manufacturing through three laboratories (Phoenix, Elea and Disprofarma).
In recent years, they have become private equity investors in different businesses. In this regard, the family has acquired the Water Company of the Province of Mendoza and a petrochemical company in the same province called Petroquimica de Cuyo.
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