Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) has begun culling bidders
for more than 315 of its branches that it is selling as part of its
restructuring, Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman reports Thursday,
without identifying sources.
Mr. Kleinman says Sky News understands RBS in the last week
informed a number of potential buyers that their offers have been
unsuccessful. The report says the unsuccessful buyers include a
joint offer from Apollo Management and JC Flowers, which tabled a
bid last year.
UBS AG, which is advising RBS on the sale process, is also
understood to have signaled to other would-be buyers such as Anacap
Financial that their interest is unlikely to be pursued, according
to the report.
Virgin Money, the banking arm of Sir Richard Branson's business
empire, is understood to have ceased working on an offer for the
branches some time ago although it could theoretically still be
interested, the Sky report says.
RBS is required to sell the branches by the European Commission,
as a condition of its bailout by the U.K. government during the
financial crisis. The U.K. government owns roughly 82% of the
bank.
Spanish banking giant Banco Santander SA (SAN) had agreed to buy
the branches in 2010, but pulled out of talks with RBS last year,
citing the difficulty of separating the businesses in a way that
would allow the 1.8 million customers affected to be seamlessly
transferred to Santander's network.
The Sky report says the principal bidders still in the RBS
auction include a consortium of City of London institutions led by
Andy Higginson, the former finance director of Tesco PLC, and a
private-equity bid from Corsair Capital and Centerbridge.
It adds that RBS declined to comment.
Full story:
http://news.sky.com/story/1097215/rbs-culls-bidders-in-race-to-sell-branches
Write to London bureau at generaldesklondon@dowjones.com
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