New private equity interest in RBS insurance

by Gill Montia

Story link: New private equity interest in RBS insurance

New private equity bidders may emerge for Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) insurance business.

The bank has been blowing hot and cold over the sale of the division, which includes the Churchill, Direct Line, Privilege, UKI and NIG brands, and reportedly rejected an offer from CVC Capital Partners in December, raising speculation that the auction would be abandoned.

So far, Berkshire Hathaway, Zurich Financial Services and Generali of Italy have also shown an interest but walked away from any deal.

Over the weekend, the Financial Times revealed that Patrick Snowball, a former chief executive of Aviva, has been working on a new bid with private equity firms, Apollo Management and BC Partners.

The auction of the business, which is valued at around £7 billion, began last year when the credit crisis forced RBS into a round of fundraising that included the sale of its Angel Trains rolling stock division, for £3.6 billion, and a record breaking £12 billion rights issue.

The group, which has been majority state-owned since November, is also understood to be considering the sale of its estate of 1,000 pubs, which are managed by Scottish & Newcastle.