RBS 'receives bid approaches' for Williams & Glyn

Matt Dunham/AP

15 December 2015

Royal Bank of Scotland did not deny a report that it has been approached by bidders for its Williams & Glyn network which it plans to spin-off next year.

Williams & Glyn, which has some 300 branches across the UK, must be sold by the end of 2017 to satisfy the European Commission after RBS received its £45 billion taxpayer bailout in 2009.

The business is likely to be valued at more than £1.5 billion.

Potential buyers are reported to be both British and European banks although Spain’s Sabadell, which bought TSB for £1.7 billion after it was spun out of Lloyds, is not among them.

RBS responded to the report by Bloomberg, saying: “We are working hard and devoting significant resources to establishing Williams & Glyn as a strong challenger bank that will bring increased competition to the market.

“We continue to focus on achieving the best-possible outcome for customers and shareholders.”

With £20 billion of loans primarily to consumers and small businesses, Williams & Glyn would be one of the largest challenger banks.

RBS has already raised £600 million from a group of private-equity investors headed by Corsair Capital who will own 49% of Williams & Glyn when it lists.

Williams & Glyn employs about 4500 people. It has some 1.8 million personal customers, 250,000 small business customers and around 1200 medium-sized business customers.

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