Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) is reportedly holding negotiations with Dutch pension fund administrator Alpinvest Partners to sell its European private equity portfolio.
According to the Financial Times, the deal could be worth upto EUR400m and it might take few more weeks before it is finalized.
As per European Union mandate, RBS, which is 83%-owned by the British government, is required to sell 318 retail bank branches in the UK alongside the private equity portfolio.
RBS, which received large state aid when it was almost on the verge of collapse during the financial crisis, was mandated by the EU to divest its non-core assets that were hampering the bank’s competitive advantage, as precondition to accept the aid.
RBS is also mulling options to sell its banks payment processing business arm RBS Global Merchant Services.