W&G Investments PLC had planned to make a bid for more than 300 Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC branches. The planned bid was valued GBP 1.5 billion. W&G Investments is led by Andrew Higginson, the ex-Finance Director of Tesco PLC.
The offered deal was valued GBP1.1 billion in cash and GBP400 million depending on its business performance, according to filings issued by the company. Today, the company asked London-based Alternative Investment Market to immediately suspend W&G Investments shares until the acquisition of 316 RBS branches have been completed.
The European Union told RBS to sell its branches by 2014 to comply with state-aid legislations. This was after the bank received GBP45.5 billion in taxpayer bailout back in 2008 and 2009. CEO Stephen Hester, who will step down from his post in September, said that the company would prefer to have the branches sold through IPO. However, the bank could still consider private offers.
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