JP Morgan discusses breakup of UK's HBOS: report

By Myles Neligan and Jonathan Standing

LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) - U.S. investment bank JP Morgan (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has held talks with potential partners about forming a consortium to break up British mortgage lender HBOS (HBOS.L: Quote, Profile, Research), The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

National Australia Bank (NAB.AX: Quote, Profile, Research), named by the Telegraph as a potentially interested party, played down the report, while a UK industry source said HBOS had not received an approach.

"We're not sure this is a clever time to make acquisitions," NAB Chief Executive John Stewart told reporters on Friday, shortly after NAB announced a further A$830 million ($798 million) in losses from its exposure to U.S. mortgages.

Without naming a source, the Telegraph said JP Morgan had also approached private equity firms and may talk to Spain's Banco Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) about a deal that would resemble the break up of ABN AMRO by a group of three banks last year.

NAB could be a buyer of HBOS's Australian arm, Bankwest, and may also be interested in its corporate banking unit, the report said.

HBOS, JP Morgan, and Santander all declined to comment.

Analysts have suggested that HBOS, Britain's biggest home lender, could make disposals to help absorb a potential rise in bad debts as the UK property market weakens.

The bank earlier this month raised 4 billion pounds ($7.94 billion) through a rights issue aimed at shoring up its balance sheet, depleted by asset write downs and rising funding costs in the wake of the credit crunch.