Stanchart may buy RBS India, China, Malaysia operations for $250m

Standard Chartered is set to buy Royal Bank of Scotland’s retail and small and medium enterprises operations in India, China and Malaysia for about $250 million, the Economic Times said on Friday, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the deal.

Talks are taking place in London and may conclude by early next week, the paper said.

The deal is likely to be announced in two weeks, it said citing a person close to the negotiations.

“We always look at opportunities in our footprint markets but, as you would expect, we don’t comment on any specific opportunities we may be looking at,” a Standard Chartered spokesperson told the paper.

RBS has drawn up plans to sell different parts of its business after an initial plan to sell the entire group to one buyer for at least $2 billion failed.

“The sale process of the retail and commercial assets in Asia has advanced well; however, due to regulatory constraints and the confidentiality of the process, we will not comment on any individual bidders or elements of the transaction process until its completion,” a RBS spokesperson told the paper.

RBS is selling its assets to shore up its balance-sheet after the bank was bailed out by the British government, which owns up to 70 percent of the banking group. RBS is seeking to exit from or shrink its operations in up to 36 countries.

Standard Chartered, which is heavily focused on Asia, has weathered the financial crisis better than most rivals.

Source: Reuters