HSBC sells Central America banks for $801mn

LONDON: HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, announced Tuesday the sale of its operations in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras to Colombia's Banco Davivienda for $801 million (616 million euros) in cash.

London-headquartered HSBC said it hoped to complete the deal in the final quarter of 2012.

"The transaction demonstrates our commitment to driving growth and improving returns in Latin America by divesting of businesses that do not meet our investment criteria," said Antonio Losada, CEO-designate of HSBC Latin America.

HSBC is offloading 136 bank branches with total assets of $4.3 billion and $2.5 billion in loans.