New York: The Royal Bank of Scotland's
effort to complete the sale of its Asian business, including
in India and China, is facing some hurdles and could fetch a
smaller than expected price, says a media report.
Attributing to people familiar with the matter, The Wall
Street Journal said RBS's effort to complete the sale of its
Asian assets has hit some snags and could mean lesser price
than the UK-controlled bank has expected.
Quoting people close to the matter, the report said, "The
problems involve talks with UK bank Standard Chartered Plc
over commercial and retail businesses in China and India.".
According to people close to the matter, the daily noted,
"both parties still hope to reach an agreement. RBS had hoped
to wrap up the talks by mid-summer."
The China and India assets are valued in the "low
hundreds of millions" of pounds, the report said attributing
to people familiar with the deal.
This means RBS could fall short of selling all the Asian
assets at their initial valuation of 1 billion pounds to 1.5
billion pounds.
The report said discussions for the Indian businesses
have encountered some road blocks because of the difficulties
surrounding licensing agreements in that country, as well as
Standard Chartered's concern about some risky, unsecured loan
portfolios it could inherit.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, August 25, 2009, 20:47