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July 17 - Discover Financial Services said on Wednesday it had sold a private student loan portfolio for up to $10.8 billion to private equity firms Carlyle and KKR .

The company, which had been weighing a sale of the portfolio since November last year, is one of a handful of lenders that have exited the space in recent years.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, Discover said.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sriraj Kalluvila)