PRIVATE equity firm CVC has joined reinsurance giant Swiss Re in a bid for control of the insurance arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland, a British newspaper reported yesterday.
The Sunday Times said Luxembourg-based CVC Capital Partners and the Swiss Reinsurance Co have made a more than 3-billion-pound (US$5.2 billion) offer to buy a 51-percent stake in RBS's insurance business. The paper did not identify a source for its report.
Swiss Re spokesman Tim Dickenson and CVC spokesman James Olley declined to comment. A call to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC was not returned.
Like other leading British banks, RBS was battered by devastating credit crisis writedowns.
Last Monday the British government announced it was buying or guaranteeing 20 billion pounds worth of shares in RBS, a move which could leave taxpayers with a majority stake in the Edinburgh-based bank.
RBS has been trying to shed non-core assets, including its insurance business, in an effort to raise cash.