Investec Plc (INVP), which owns a private
banking business and money manager that operates in South
Africa, Australia and the U.K., said it’s considering selling
its private banking unit in Switzerland.

“We’re in the process of looking at selling our Swiss
private bank,” spokeswoman Ursula Nobrega said by mobile phone
today. The move is “in line with the continued efforts to
realign” that business, she said, declining to comment further.

The FTSE 100-listed bank hired Fenchurch Advisory Partners
to advise it on the sale, the Mail on Sunday reported earlier
today. Investec Bank (Switzerland) has 1.95 billion pounds ($3.1
billion) of assets under management and has offices in Zurich
and Geneva, according to the newspaper.

Investec is moving away from lending to conserve capital
while investing in its asset-management and wealth business to
boost earnings. The bank, which is traded in both London and
Johannesburg, last year bought British fund manager Rensburg
Sheppards Plc to expand the division, which accounts for almost
40 percent of operating profit.

The bank also wants to expand into India and Hong Kong to
capture more of the transaction flows between Chinese and Indian
companies buying resources in Africa and Australia. This year it
bought Access Capital in Hong Kong and has received regulatory
approval in South Africa to set up an advisory business in
India, Chief Executive Officer Stephen Koseff said on May 19.

Investec posted net income of 420.5 million pounds for the
12 months through March, up from 346.1 million pounds a year
earlier, the company said last month.

Shares in Investec have fallen 4.5 percent in Johannesburg
since the start of the year, and gained 0.5 percent to close at
53.61 rand as of 5 p.m. local time on June 24.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at
clourens@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Alastair Reed at areed12@bloomberg.net