http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aZ6csLGsZ6pQ&refer=us Bank One Considers Bid for Sears Unit, Executive Says (Update1) By Scott Silvestri Chicago, April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Bank One Corp. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon may bid for Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s $30.8 billion credit-card unit in what would be his biggest purchase, said an executive at the bank. The acquisition would close the gap between Bank One, the third-largest U.S. card issuer, and Citigroup Inc. and MBNA Corp. Sears, which put the operation up for sale to focus on retailing, may get between $3 billion and $6 billion, analysts estimate. ``It would be hard for us not to take a look at'' the Sears business, said Bank One Card Services Chief Executive Philip Heasley in an interview. ``Acquisitions are opportunistic and we will look at anything that potentially makes sense.'' He declined to elaborate. Dimon, who has said he wants to expand the bank's credit-card portfolio by 16 percent to about $85 billion in the next two years, will probably bid against Citigroup, General Electric Co. and Morgan Stanley, which owns the Discover card, analysts have said. ``My only concern would be the credit quality of the Sears portfolio and what they would pay if they were to buy it,'' said Bob Maneri, who helps manage $62 billion, including Bank One shares, at Victory Capital Management in Cleveland. ``Jamie's made no secret that he'd like to expand that business and it's not any secret that they've been shopping.'' 25 Million Accounts Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears, the largest U.S. department-store chain, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to advise it on the sale of the unit, which accounts for almost two-thirds of its profit. It has 25 million accounts and about 8,000 employees. The proposed sale of the Sears portfolio comes as the consumer-finance business consolidates. HSBC Holdings Plc completed its $15.5 billion purchase of Household International Inc. two days ago. Today, First Data Corp., the largest credit- card payment processor, agreed to buy Concord EFS Inc. for $6.75 billion to become the largest owner of automated-teller machines. If Bank One were to make the purchase, it would be the company's largest since Dimon took over as Chairman and CEO in March 2000. In July 2001, it bought Wachovia Corp.'s $6.2 billion credit-card unit to gain 2.6 million customer accounts. ``If Citigroup decides it doesn't want this I think Bank One has the best shot at it,'' said Richard Bove, a banking analyst at Hoefer & Arnett in Pinellas Park, Florida, in a Bloomberg Radio interview. ``The need for Morgan Stanley to make a bid is probably greater than that of Bank One because the Discover card seems to have flattened out,'' Bove said. ``Their need to buy this thing is bigger.'' Shares of Bank One rose 63 cents to $35.91 at 10:43 a.m. in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Sears shares climbed 91 cents to $25.22. Credit Card Pioneer Sears began letting customers pay in installments for purchases of pianos, farm tools and encyclopedias in 1911. The retailer has increased its dependence on credit-card earnings because it's losing clothing sales to rivals such as Kohl's Corp. Sales of its Kenmore washers and Craftsman tools brands are being eroded by such chains as Home Depot Inc. ``Sears kind of started the whole credit-card business in the United States and a lot of people forget that,'' said Bank One's Heasley. ``Then they gave birth to Discover.'' The business has the nation's largest in-house, proprietary card portfolio with $18.4 billion in Sears receivables. It also has $12.4 billion in MasterCard receivables. The business generated more than $1.5 billion of operating income in 2002. Operating income at the credit division declined 15 percent in the fourth quarter to $363 million as the company set aside more funds for uncollectible accounts. Delinquencies rose to 7.69 percent, from 7.58 percent in the prior-year period. ``The portfolio has loss rates that are not the lowest in the world,'' said Victory Capital Management's Maneri. ``From the outside you always fear the worst.'' Last Updated: April 2, 2003 10:46 EST
THAT WOULD BE NICE...they will close my account I have had since 1979!!!! They only want me to have one account I guess since I was DENIED the DISNEY card...
I have two cards with FirstUSA. One is the Mileage Plus Visa and the other is a military officer's club card. But maybe they make an exception for the military cards, because if you join the club you get a credit card. I believe I used to have another account with BankOne that I closed, but maybe they didn't overlap. I can't remember that long ago, and besides, they may have changed since then.
