The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to convert more of its UK property portfolio by selling another £800 mln (EUR 1.148 bn) of assets in a sale-and-lease-back deal. RBS has hired commercial property consultants Cushman & Wakefield to market a portfolio of 60 buildings, mainly its own offices, including the landmark building on London’s Strand long occupied by its private banking arm Coutts.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is planning to convert more of its UK property portfolio by selling another £800 mln (EUR 1.148 bn) of assets in a sale-and-lease-back deal. RBS has hired commercial property consultants Cushman & Wakefield to market a portfolio of 60 buildings, mainly its own offices, including the landmark building on London’s Strand long occupied by its private banking arm Coutts.
The sale is part of a programme by RBS to maximise value from its operational real estate, and comes on the heels of the £ 650 mln (EUR 933 mln) portfolio of hotel assets the bank put on the market earlier this month. These disposals follow the acquisition of Dutch bank ABN AMRO by a consortium led by RBS together with Santander of Spain and Belgium’s Fortis.
An RBS spokesperson declined to comment on a report in the Financial Times saying that the bank would use sale proceeds to help finance its share of the ABN AMRO acquisition. Consortium partner Santander is believed to be closing a deal to sell its property holdings for about EUR 4 bn, the most prominent buildings of which are reportedly being sold to Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex and owner of clothing retailer Zara. Santander declined to confirm the report.
