Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) is selling two of its Latin American units, Bank Itau Unibanco and Grupo Financiero Santander–for nearly $7 billion and a private equity portfolio for $2 billion.
Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) already divested itself of Columbia Asset Management Division and First Republic Bank in addition to its stake in a Chinese bank. Some analysts believe that additional sales will be forthcoming and that Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC) may be undergoing a Citigroup-like restructuring and divesting itself of non-core assets to raise capital.
Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove commented on the sale, “These sales represent what is now an ongoing restructuring of this company. More sales are quite likely of consumer finance-related businesses, asset management positions, and other ventures. The bank may be remaking itself as a capital markets company with far reaching international interests.”
Bove said that the restructuring is similar to what’s happening at Citigroup, Inc (NYSE: C). The moves suggest that regulators may be winning their fight to make some of the largest banks smaller so that they are no longer too big to fail.
