UPDATE:TPG Splits With Clayton Dubilier For RBS Unit -Sources

16th Jul 2010 14:46

(Adds detail, comment.) By Marietta Cauchi Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--TPG Inc and Clayton Dubilier and Rice are no longer pursuing a joint bid for Royal Bank of Scotland PLC's (RBS) Global Merchant Division, including profitable Worldpay, people familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Friday. The split, which came overnight, is over a complementary deal in the U.S. that the buyout duo were working on together and which didn't work out, one person said. TPG will now pursue a bid for RBS' payment processing unit, Global Merchant Services, independently. Clayton Dubilier and Rice remain in the process and are in talks with potential partners with a view to submitting a final bid, one person said. There are suggestions that the private equity firm couldn't raise enough cash to go it alone but could get additional funding from co-investors, including those who had already backed their funds, or team up with trade buyers on a joint bid. Final bids for the unit are due Monday July 19, people said. RBS is keen to complete a deal by Aug. 6 when it reports its first-half results, they added. A joint rival bid is being worked on by Advent International Corp together with Bain Capital LLC. Advent has plenty of experience in the payment processing business having bought a 51% stake in Fifth Third Processing Solutions in the U.S. and invested in Euronet, an independent ATM service provider, which went public on Nasdaq. In April, it boosted its firepower further with the appointment of David Yates, former president of First Data International, one of the largest global payment processing businesses, as an operating partner. RBS is selling Global Merchant Services as part of a disposal program forced on it by the European Commission following its receipt of billions of pounds of government money following the financial crisis. -By Marietta Cauchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 207 842 9241; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 16, 2010 09:46 ET (13:46 GMT)