Standard Chartered PLC, which draws the bulk of its revenue from outside Britain in Asia and Africa, will buy American Express Bank Ltd. for the value of its assets plus $300 million.

As of June 30, that combined value amounted to $860 million -- representing 14.3 times the subsidiary's net income in the first half of 2007, and 1.5 times the value of its net assets.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

A year and a half after that, Standard Chartered will also buy American Express International Deposit Co. for the value of its assets, which was $212 million at the end of June.

The American Express Bank Ltd. subsidiary accounted for approximately 2.8 percent of the New York-based credit card network's first-half income of about $2.12 billion.

Citigroup analysts wrote in a research note that they regard the sale as "a modest positive" for American Express, as the subsidiary was a slower-growing, non-core business for the company and probably a mild drag on overall growth and returns.

American Express shares rose $1.36, or 2.3 percent, to $59.56 in midday trading Tuesday.

The company said the deal would have a virtually break-even effect on earnings; it will take a charge of about $50 million in the current quarter, but expects to see gains related to the transaction in subsequent quarters.

American Express Chief Executive Kenneth I. Chenault said in a statement that the company wants to give more attention to its more lucrative credit card and travel payments businesses. The international banking subsidiary would be better run by a financial institution with similar businesses, he said.

American Express Bank has over 10,000 private banking clients and total assets under management of about $22.5 billion. The unit provides estate planning, payment processing and investment management to investors and the wealthy in 47 countries including Singapore, India, Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines and Germany.

Standard Charter, which intends to finance the buy with its own cash and debt funding, said American Express Bank will double the size of its U.S. dollar clearing business and speed up the development of the Standard Chartered Private Bank.

"AEB's balance sheet is highly liquid and its income is predominantly fee-based," said Standard Charter's Group Chief Executive Peter Sands in a statement.

Standard Charter posted first-half profit of $1.37 billion, a 26 percent jump compared to the first half of 2006. It's been quite acquisitive over the past few years, especially in Asia: in 2005 it bought Taiwan's Hsinchu International Bank for $1.2 billion and Korea First Bank for $3.3 billion.