Two of the three bidders short-listed to buy 315 bank branches from Royal Bank of Scotland have called for the long-running sale process to be completed as quickly as possible, with one describing the outlets as “slightly neglected” under their current ownership.
RBS was ordered to sell the UK branches as a condition of its 2008 taxpayer bailout, which left the bank 81 per cent state-owned. A 1.65-billion-pound (HK$20 billion) sale of the branches to Spain’s Santander collapsed in October last year, triggering a fresh sale process that has been plagued by delays.
In separate interviews with Reuters, senior figures from short-listed bidders W&G Investments and Corsair said a deal needed to be agreed quickly so that the branch business, which has assets of about 20.5 billion pounds, can begin operating as a separate entity ahead of its change in ownership.
Both laid out plans to expand the business by focusing on small business lending and said they were committed long-term investors who wanted to create a “challenger” bank in the UK.
Headed by former Tesco Finance chief Andy Higginson, W&G Investments is a UK-based group of institutional investors which will list on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Tuesday. It wants to pay between 1.1 and 1.5 billion pounds for the branches.
US-based private equity firm Corsair is bidding along with fellow private equity house Centre Point, and other investors including the Church of England’s investment fund and Standard Life Investments.
