Goldman Sachs Is Selling Its Metals Warehouses

From the Financial Times:

Goldman Sachs has begun a formal sales process for its controversial network of metals warehouses, calling them “not strategic” to its client business.

The decision to unload Metro International Trade Services, for which it paid roughly $540m in 2010, comes as Goldman’s main regulator reviews banks’ ownership of physical commodities and the infrastructure used to store and transport them.

The London Metal Exchange has also tried to impose a new rule to speed deliveries of aluminium and other metals from its registered warehouses, a move that would reduce rental revenue for warehouse owners.

“Metro is not strategic to our client activities, and the firm has concluded that this is the right time to explore a sale, given recent interest by potential buyers,” Goldman said in its first statement on a possible divestiture....MUCH MORE