Late Monday, Target said it would sell a 47 percent interest in its credit card business to JPMorgan Chase for an initial investment of $3.6 billion.

The news came almost 8 months after the discount retailer, under pressure from activist investor Bill Ackman, said it was exploring options for its credit card business — a move it had long resisted.

The final deal was a complicated one that Uta Werner, an retail analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co, described in the following way: A “note sold to JPM, backed by a 47 percent undivided interest in Target’s receivables, in exchange for cash proceeds of approximately $3.6 billion and subject to a profit and risk sharing agreement.”

While the deal may have left some on Wall Street scratching their heads, wondering if the deal made sense, CFO Doug Scovanner could not say enough good things about the deal on a conference call on Tuesday.

“We expect to get hundreds of millions of dollars from profit from this venture unless we really screw it up,” he said. “Personally, I think this is what Dire Straits had in mind in the 1980s anthem, ‘Money for Nothing.’ I think this is wonderful.” 

And he balked at the notion of terminating the deal with JPMorgan if Target finds another partner interested in its full credit card portfolio. 

“We just announced that we’re intending to get married in a few weeks and you’re asking me what happens if I want to get divorced,” he said. “I’d far rather live for the moment with the happy ideas of what’s going to happen on this honeymoon than worry about how to unwind this deal.”