S.Africa's Barloworld in talks to sell Australia auto dealerships

JOHANNESBURG, March 13 (Reuters) - South African transport group Barloworld Ltd is in advanced talks to sell its Australian auto retail business, it said shortly after the stock market closed on Thursday.

Barloworld, which runs seven auto showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne, did not say who it talking to or how much the business could fetch.

The company said the deal fell below the Johannesburg bourse's transactions threshold for mandatory disclosure or shareholder approval, indicating the value would be less than 5 percent of its market capitalisation.

Shares in Barloworld closed slightly higher at 106.37 rand, giving it market capitalisation of 24.5 billion rand ($2.26 billion).

(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng. Editing by Jane Merriman)

((tiisetso.motsoeneng@thomsonreuters.com)(+27 11 775 3122)(Reuters Messaging: tiisetso.motsoeneng.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: BARLOWORLD/