Wells Fargo sells Mendota Heights-based shareowner services business

Wells Fargo & Co. announced Wednesday that the banking company will sell its Mendota Heights-based shareowner services business for $227 million to a leading provider of investor services in the United Kingdom.

The Shareowner Services division provides services including stock transfer and investment plan services to more than 1,200 companies across the United States.

As part of the sale, more than 400 Wells Fargo workers are expected to transition to buyer Equiniti Group PLC, but the team will remain at its Minnesota location, confirmed a Wells Fargo spokeswoman.

"In joining Equiniti, our extremely talented team of U.S.-based shareowner services professionals will be ideally positioned to continue to provide their current customers with products and services that best meet their needs, and support Equiniti's growth plans for the future," said Ed Blakey, head of Wells Fargo Commercial Capital, in a statement.

After regulatory and Equiniti shareholder approvals, the deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Last month, Wells Fargo agreed to sell its commercial insurance business to private insurer USI Insurance Services. In late 2015, the San Francisco-based bank announced that it would sell Rural Community Insurance Services, its Anoka-based crop insurance unit, to Zurich Insurance Group.

Wells Fargo also plans to reduce expenses by $2 billion through the end of 2019, on top of a $2 billion cost-cutting target previously announced.