Royal Bank of Scotland set to divest more non-core operations
The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced further selloffs as the company looks to focus upon its core banking and finance activities. The latest operation to be put up for auction is the European arm of its private equity portfolio which has attracted 10 bidders and looks likely to go for around £225 million. While this is chicken feed in the overall picture of recent Royal Bank of Scotland disposals, it is a further stepping stone to a refocusing and a downsizing of the bank.
Royal Bank of Scotland, now 70% owned by the UK government, was very much at the forefront of new and exciting investment vehicles and investment tools. Indeed the company also took a great interest in private equity but is now looking to dispose of a number of private equity stakes which could bring in hundreds of millions of pounds.
While Royal Bank of Scotland has disposed of a significant number of operations over the last two years many believe we will see more selloffs in the short, medium and longer term. Once cited as the largest bank in the world Royal Bank of Scotland has certainly fallen back down-to-earth with a bump and is unlikely to ever reach the highs seen three or four years ago. How did it all go so wrong for Royal Bank of Scotland?
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