An Investec Sale of Kensington Would Be Credit Positive 
On Thursday, Investec PLC (Ba1 negative) announced that it was considering selling certain UK assets of 
Kensington, its intermediary mortgage business in the UK and Ireland, after receiving expressions of 
interest. If a sale were to occur, it would be credit positive for Investec’s bondholders because the sale would 
improve Investec’s risk profile and capital ratios and signal that Investec has a more cautious risk appetite. 
Kensington is Investec’s originator and distributor of higher-risk prime self-certified and buy-to-let 
mortgages and has been a source of significant loan impairments for the group since Investec acquired 
Kensingon in 2007. As of 30 September 2013, Investec’s consolidated assets in Kensington were almost 
£2.9 billion, £2.3 billion of which were UK-based. The quality of the Kensington assets is significantly 
worse than that of Investec’s core loan book, with 35% of the book being more than 90 days in arrears or in 
repossession and a weighted average loan-to-value ratio of 91%. 
At £814 million as of 30 September 2013, Investec’s net exposure to the assets originated, warehoused and 
securitised by Kensington was much lower than Kensington’s total consolidated assets because Investec’s 
credit exposure is limited to certain assets. Nonetheless, the exposure was still nearly 65% of the bank’s 
common equity Tier 1 capital (CET1). As of 30 September 2013, Investec’s CET1 was 9.1%, up from 
8.8% as of 30 March 2013. 
The partial elimination of this risk would allow Investec to deploy the proceeds into expanding other 
segments, including Investec’s lower-risk wealth and investment management business. Over the past few 
years, Investec has made a series of investments in its wealth and investment management business to 
facilitate a shift toward less capital-intensive business activities. 
The sale of some of the assets in Kensington would support the change in the strategy outlined by the bank 
in November, with greater focus on running off some legacy assets originated before 2008 (see exhibit). The 
rationale is two-fold: as with the recent strategic review of the group’s underperforming Australian 
businesses, we consider the sale of Kensington to be a partial response to shareholder pressure to boost 
Investec’s profitability, which is currently below its UK peers. A sale of Kensington would also allow 
Investec to take advantage of the improving valuation of these legacy assets amid an improving UK
It is noteworthy to highlight that so far, the interest of third parties is only on certain UK assets of 
Kensington, and that Investec is still in the early stage of the negotiations. 
Investec PLC is rated one notch below its group banking subsidiary, Investec Bank Plc (Baa3 negative, 
D+/baa3 stable5
). This notching reflects the structural subordination of Investec PLC, the balance of the 
risk profile of the legacy Kensington wholesale mortgage portfolio and the stability of income and potential 
capital generation of Investec Asset Management, another subsidiary in the group.