Fleet to Buy Sanwa Credit for $700 Million

Fleet Financial Group Inc. agreed to buy Sanwa Bank Ltd.’s U.S. finance company for more than $700 million, three people familiar with the transaction said. Boston-based Fleet, New England’s biggest bank, is expected to make an announcement Monday. Sanwa Business Credit has $6.5 billion in assets and earned $61 million last year. Sanwa, Japan’s fourth-largest bank, bought the company, formerly Continental Illinois Leasing Co., in 1984 and put the Chicago-based unit up for sale in September as economic stress in Asia began battering its finances.