(17 December 2015 – India) DBS Group and IDFC Bank are among potential buyers preparing final bids for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Indian onshore assets reports have said.
The banks are in the process of submitting final offers by this week’s deadline for the UK lender’s portfolio of loans and deposits in India
RBS plans to choose a winning bidder in January, sources have told reporters.
According to its latest financial statements, RBS had a balance sheet of 190 billion rupees (A$3.9 billion) and a loan book of 111 billion rupees in India at the end of March.
Since his appointed two years ago, CEO Ross McEwan has sought to return the government owned bank annual to annual profit by cutting thousands of jobs, ceasing operations, and exiting countries around the globe and selling a variety of assets.
RBS sold its offshore Indian loan assets in October and aims to complete the sale of its private banking business in the country in Q1 2016.
The bank’s Indian business has loaned money to the local units of US, European and Canadian companies, according to one source familiar with sale.
The sale also includes RBS’s stakes in two non-bank financial institutions in India, the people said. It has a majority stake in one of the companies, both of which conduct little business but would bring buyers a license to offer certain types of financing, the reports said.