By Emma-Victoria Farr, Amy-Jo Crowley and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - French bank Credit Agricole (EPA:CAGR) and Austria's BAWAG Group are set to submit binding bids for Barclays (LON:BARC)' German consumer finance unit this week, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The banks are vying for the German business alongside private equity firm bidders Warburg Pincus and Centerbridge in the second stage of the process, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Binding bids are due this week with final bidder selection later this month, the sources said. The hope is to sign a deal this year, one of the sources said, while cautioning that the timeline could slip.
Barclays, Credit Agricole, BAWAG and Warburg Pincus declined to comment. Centerbridge did not immediately return requests for comment. Barclays has for years been cutting back its retail businesses in Europe and the German unit is one of the last remaining assets following exits from Italy and France.
This sale was prompted by a shift to more conservative spending habits in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The consumer finance arm, formerly known as Barclaycard, has around 700 employees and started operating in Germany in 1991.
The unit, which started preparing for a sale earlier this year, offers flexible lending loans and also payment cards to around 2.5 million clients.
The Hamburg-based Barclays unit reported a loan book, or assets, of 4 billion pounds ($4.89 billion) at the end of June.Bidders need to have an existing banking license to go ahead with the transaction, Reuters reported earlier this year.
The sale in Germany is separate to Barclays payments review, which involves exploring the sale of a stake in the unit that processes payments for UK merchants.
($1 = 0.8187 pounds)