Investec Plc struck a deal to buy Lombard North Central Plc's loan portfolio in the Isle of Man and Gibraltar and teamed up with Shawbrook Bank Ltd. to purchase its asset finance operations in the Channel Islands, Sky News reported on Wednesday, quoting unnamed insiders. The deal for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's leasing unit in Jersey and Guernsey is said to be valued at £150 million. It was reached last week, the article adds.
Lombard, which operates within intermediary entity NatWest Holdings Ltd., had to dispose of the offshore assets as part of the so-called ring-fencing legislation. The system was launched in 2011 to prevent the need to bail out big lenders with taxpayer money in the case of a meltdown.
RBS, which is controlled by the British government since the start of the last financial crisis, has been separating its investment banking business. Two months ago it closed the assets in Gibraltar and the Channel Islands to new business and put them up for sale.
