(16 December 2009 –Europe) Private equity firm, Advent International, has made an informal offer to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s global processing business.The Times has reported that the payment processing business could be valued at up to £3 billion (A$5.35 billion) and handles more than five billion card transactions every year.
RBS was ordered by the European competition authorities to sell the card processing business and, if Advent is successful, the sale will add to the recently acquired 51 percent stake purchased from Fifth Third Bancorp in the US.
The private equity firm has also made other investments in Brazil’s CSU Cardsystem and the French merchant acquirer Monext.
The Times, quoting an unidentified source, said that RBS has received more than 45 expressions of interest, prompting it to accelerate the sale process, with a formal auction process to be launched within weeks.
Nick Ogden, chief of biometric authentication firm Voice Commerce, has also expressed a firm interest in taking over the business and has been seeking to raise PE funding to back a bid.