(15 June 2010 – UK) Spanish banking heavyweight Santander has put forward a bid to acquire the Royal Bank of Scotland’s 318 branches valued at £1.8 billion (A$3.1 billion).Dow Jones Newswires reported that the Spanish bank may be the only institution to have placed a bid, however the Royal bank of Scotland decline to comment.
Santander has become a banking giant in the UK after its takeover of Abby in 2004, Bradford and Bingley in September 2008 and Alliance and Leicester in October 2008, bring the bank’s total branch count to 1300.
The Spanish group has 1300 bank branches in Britain after its takeovers of Abbey in 2004, Bradford and Bingley in September 2008 and Alliance and Leicester in October 2008.
Dow Jones further reported Santander initially offered £2 billion, however after reviewing the bank’s book revised its offer to £1.8 billion.
RBS, which is 83-percent owned by the British government after being bailed out, has until 2013 to sell its branches in line with a demand made by the European Commission in exchange for aid received during the crisis.