RBS accepts cut price offer for Pakistani unit

16th Jun 2010 07:11

Part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland has sold another piece of its sprawling empire, getting shot of a Pakistani subsidiary at the second attempt.The Royal Bank of Scotland NV (formerly known as ABN AMRO Bank NV), a subsidiary undertaking of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, has reached agreement for the sale of its 99.37% holding in RBS Pakistan to Faysal Bank Limited.Faysal is paying €41m, roughly equivalent to 4.3bn Pakistani rupees.The sale price equates to about 2.5 rupees per ordinary share, a substantial discount to last night's closing price of the shares which are listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, the Lahore Stock Exchange and the Islamabad Stock Exchange.The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.RBS has tried to offload RBS Pakistan before but a proposed acquisition by Pakistani lender MCB Bank fell through last year after the two parties had a dispute over depositing shares as security.MCB's offer was worth around 7.2bn rupees.