CCF And BHF Buy Charterhouse; Treasury Merger Deemed Unlikely

Credit Commercial de France and Frankfurt-based BHF-Bank last week signed an agreement to buy most of Charterhouse Bank from Royal Bank of Scotland as a joint venture. The agreement, which is not yet completed, gives each bank a bit over 45 percent of the U.K. merchant bank, leaving a 9.9 percent stake still in the hands of RBS, which has also retained Charterhouse's capital markets group.

The part sold to CCF and BHF includes Charterhouse's treasury operation. However sources at the banks