UBS appointed to handle RBS branch sale

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has appointed UBS to handle the sale of 316 of its branches.

Santander had been lined up to buy up the outlets, but walked away from the deal in October following delays with the transfer process.

This pushed RBS to seek out another buyer, but in order with European competition rules, a buyer must be found by December 2013, making RBS keen to speed up the sale in order to avoid complications.

Santander was set to pay around £1.65 billion for the deal, which included 316 branches, 1.8 million customers and £21.7 billion of deposits. However, RBS is expected to receive significantly less than this price as the deal now looks set to favour the buyer, reports from the Telegraph suggest.

UBS is set to take some short-term action while a buyer is found. This could include hiving off the unit before Christmas, either through a management buy-out backed with private equity, or through an initial public offering.

Then, in the new year, a memorandum will be compiled for would-be trade buyers, which are thought to include Virgin Money, JC Flowers and the Nationwide building society.

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