17th Sep 2013 13:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - W&G Investments PLC Tuesday said it is still in talks with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC about buying 315 RBS branches, denying a BBC report that its bid has been rejected.
The investment vehicle set up by former Tesco finance director Andrew Higginson specifically to bid for the branches said its bid hasn't been rejected.
"We are still in constructive negotiations with RBS and believe ours is the only true bid for the branches," a W&G spokesperson told Alliance News. "We're absolutely not withdrawing from the bid either".
RBS declined to comment.
Earlier, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston said he had learned that the W&G bid had been rejected because the bank's board thought two other bids, from private equity consortia led by Corsair and and AnaCap, offer better value, though he didn't say where he got the information.
W&G was the only bid to offer a full separation of the branches and a plan to float the whole new company on the London Stock Exchange. However, Peston said RBS saw more value in the other bids because they involve RBS keeping a stake in the separated small-business bank for a while, which should allow it to share in any future increase in the value of the bank.
RBS is close to announcing which of the two remaining bids will buy the branches, Peston added.
W&G Investments has already listed on AIM, but its shares are suspended pending the outcome of the bid for the RBS branches. If it is unsuccessful it will cancel the listing.
In its AIM admission document, W&G said it had proposed to make a payment of GBP1.1 billion in cash up-front to be held on secure deposit by RBS, and that the deal could eventually total GBP1.5 billion.
RBS shares were down 0.6% at 346.4 pence Tuesday afternoon.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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