Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) received recommendation from Morgan Stanley to divest a majority stake in its Irish unit, Ulster Bank.
Reuters cited a report by Ireland’s Sunday Business Post as saying that RBS hired the US financial services corporation earlier this year to advise it on potential merger opportunities for Ulster Bank.
It is believed that the RBS may make a formal announcement as early as next week, which could kickstart a formal bidding process.
The British bank is also reportedly evaluating options to pump fresh money through stake sale to private equity (PE) firms to restructure the Irish lender, which may also include disposal of Ulster’s operations to PE firms.
RBS chief executive Ross McEwan was quoted by Reuters as saying that the bank was looking at the opportunities it had for Ulster Bank and would be in a position to discuss them "probably in the next two or three months."
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