(18 November 2016 – Australia) Retail and mining group, Wesfarmers has announced a 10-year deal for international bank Citi to distribute its Coles branded credit cards.
The supermarket giant has been issuing credit cards for more than 20 years but said on that Citi will now manage its credit card business under the new agreement.
Citi will acquire the existing credit card receivables of around A$880 million and Coles will receive a share of the risk-adjusted revenues.
Coles has more than one million customers across credit cards and car and home insurance. It fully acquired the businesses after buying out GE Capital last year.
Wesfarmers said the net proceeds from the Citi transaction, which it did not detail the amount, will go towards reducing debt.
The transaction is expected to be completed by February 2017, but it is not expected to affect Coles' earnings for the 2017 financial year.