Countrywide Made Approach to Halifax Estate Agents, FT Reports

By Sabine Pirone

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Countrywide Plc made a tentative approach recently to acquire the Halifax chain of estate agents from HBOS Plc, the Financial Times reported, without specifying where it got the information.

The approach by the private equity-owned U.K. estate agency was at an early stage and was rejected by HBOS, the U.K.'s largest mortgage lender, the FT said, citing no one.

Apollo Management LP, the firm that bought Countrywide in May 2007 for 1.05 billion pounds ($2.1 billion), Countrywide and HBOS declined to comment, the FT said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sabine Pirone in London at spirone@bloomberg.net