TD is selling its entire investment in Charles Schwab, representing 10.1% of economic ownership for what a source close to the matter expects to fetch $14 billion.
Schwab, according to a Monday announcement, has agreed to repurchase $1.5 billion of its shares from TD, conditional on the completion of a registered offering.
This is TD’s first major move under new CEO Raymond Chun, who took the helm Feb. 1.
“As part of our strategic review, we have been evaluating capital allocation and have made the decision to exit our Schwab investment. We are very pleased with the strong return we are generating on the Schwab shares we acquired in 2020,” Chun said in a prepared statement.
TD will use C$8 billion ($5.6 billion) of the sale’s proceeds to repurchase its own stock, and will invest the balance in its businesses to drive performance and accelerate growth, Chun said.
The sale aligns with comments Chun made at an investor conference in January, when he said the bank was reconsidering its investment in Schwab.
The bank sold 40.5 million Schwab shares last August, setting aside money for expected penalties from its multiagency anti-money laundering probe. Its stake in Schwab then dropped from 12.3% to 10.1%.
TD holds 184.7 million shares of Schwab’s common stock. More information may come at a conference call TD is holding Tuesday.
Schwab did not return a request for comment. The company will repurchase its shares with cash on hand over the course of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
TD agreed to pay more than $3 billion in penalties in October in connection with its AML woes, and must now operate under a $434 billion asset cap for its U.S. retail operations.
Chun has since said publicly that improving AML practices is the bank’s first priority.