RBS looks to dispose of estate of pubs

It has been reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is looking to dispose of its 1,000 pub estate, which is estimated to be worth £600 million.

The leased and tenanted outlets were acquired from Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the brewer now controlled by Heineken, in early 2000 for approximately £450 million.

With the current difficult market conditions, analysts have cautioned that finding a buyer could prove difficult but RBS has received interest from three property investment companies.

At the time RBS acquired the pubs, it stressed that it was not branching out into the pubs business but the deal was purely financial.

However, the latest announcement is further evidence that the bank is reviewing its property assets after reports two weeks ago suggested that RBS was abandoning its £7 billion sale of its insurance unit.

The insurance arm, which includes the Churchill and Direct Line brand names, was put up for sale early last year and a long list of potential buyers emerged but many withdrew their bids.

RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer in November due to the small take-up of its £15 billion share offer by investors, the Government now owns 57.9% of the bank.

While the bank declined to comment, it did state that it constantly reviews its property portfolios and holdings.

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