Barclays in talks to sell parts of investment banking business in Brazil -Sky News

Sept 27 (Reuters) - Barclays PLC (LSE: BARC.L - news) is in preliminary discussions with potential buyers to exit from parts of its investment banking business in Brazil, Sky News reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Barclays' executives have greenlighted a process to explore an exit from its Brazilian operations and deal talks are set to open, Sky News said. (http://bit.ly/1O3HgdJ)

Earlier this month, Reuters reported Barclays' sale of its Portugal assets for 175 million euros ($196.02 million)and talks of it offloading its Italian retail network and a portfolio of Italian mortgages worth 4 billion euros.

The UK bank's drive to cut back operations in regions where it lacks scale and strength is part of a renewed focus by new Chairman John McFarlane, who believes in offloading assets where the lender doesn't have "a clear competitive advantage in specific products or markets."

Barclays could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours. ($1 = 0.8928 euros) (Reporting by Ankush Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Hay)