Threadneedle and Schroders 'in talks over purchase of RBS branches'

Threadneedle and Schroders are among the City firms that have been approached about buying a stake in the 316 RBS branches the bank has put up for sale, according to reports.

Broker Canaccord Genuity has reportedly approached City investors with the aim of forming a consortium to bid for the branches, which RBS has been ordered to offload by regulators. The structure of a potential bid is unclear, but could take the form of an initial public offering, in which a shell company buys the operations and then sells shares to investors, according to the FT. "Threadneedle is always willing to look at investing in potentially interesting publicly-quoted companies," Threadneedle head of equities Leigh Harrison told the paper. Schroders, RBS and Canaccord Genuity...