Dexia still weighing its options
Dexia Credit Local general manager Campbell Wratt yesterday confirmed that the group's Belgian parent planned to quit the Australian market.But Wratt said there had been some mis-reporting of the move. The group's loan book is not $4 billion, as reported in The Age yesterday, and there have not yet been any discussions with possible local buyers.Wratt said: "It is likely that Dexia will appoint an adviser to conduct a strategic review that will recommend on a sale process or the introduction of a partner."But those names reported in some media reports did not come from us."Wratt said Dexia Credit Local has a loan book of billions, not tens of billions, but said the figure being widely reported was an invention.Dexia Credit Local employs 11 people, seven of whom are bankers. It is a specialist in infrastructure lending."We get into social infrastructure, such as PPP projects, and economic infrastructure, such as motorways, ports and power stations."We lend on energy transportation assets, such as gas and oil pipelines."We do a little bit of work with oil and gas producers but we do not finance miners or commodity producers. "We don't handle commercial property, private equity, leveraged finance or much general corporate lending."We have done some local government sector finance."The company is not an ADI and does not provide any transaction or trade finance services.