ANZ to sell Esanda

John Kavanagh
ANZ is preparing to sell is vehicle and equipment finance business, Esanda, according to a report in the Australian Financial Review. The business has A$16.2 billion of loans and leases.

The reports estimates that the sale of the business could be worth $2 billion to ANZ. The sale would coincide with the sale of GE Capital's local operations.

ANZ has shown that it is prepared to sell non-core assets to boost return on equity, with the sale last year of its trustee business.

While ANZ may be looking to get out of the car finance market, others see it as a growth area. Last year, Westpac paid $1.4 billion for Lloyds commercial lending business and Macquarie Group has developed into the country's biggest vehicle finance provider.