LONDON, Aug 20: Two of the three bidders short-listed to buy 315 bank branches from Royal Bank of Scotland have called for the long-running sale process to be completed as quickly as possible, with one describing the outlets as “slightly neglected” under their current ownership.

RBS was ordered to sell the UK branches as a condition of its 2008 taxpayer bailout, which left the bank 81 per cent state-owned. A 1.65-billion-pound ($2.59 billion) sale of the branches to Spain’s Santander collapsed in October 2012, triggering a fresh sale process that has been plagued by delays.

In separate interviews with Reuters, senior figures from short-listed bidders W&G Investments and Corsair said a deal needed to be agreed quickly so that the branch business, which has assets of about 20.5 billion pounds, can begin operating as a separate entity ahead of its change in ownership.

Both laid out plans to expand the business by focusing on small business lending and said they were committed long-term investors who wanted to create a “challenger” bank in the UK.

Headed by former Tesco Finance chief Andy Higginson, W&G Investments is a UK-based group of institutional investors which will list on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) on Tuesday. It wants to pay between 1.1 and 1.5 billion pounds for the branches.

US-based private equity firm Corsair is bidding along with fellow private equity house Centerbridge, and other investors including the Church of England’s investment fund and Standard Life Investments.

It wants to install former Lloyds Banking Group executive John Maltby as chief executive and pay between 600 million and 800m pounds to become a cornerstone investor ahead of a stock market flotation that would value the new bank at more than 1.5 billion pounds.

The third bid is headed by British private equity house AnaCap, with US investor Blackstone. In a statement, they said they would work with RBS to “achieve a premium valuation” for the business through a stock market offering, but would give no detail on the value of their proposed deal.

RBS declined to comment on the process.

Asked about the biggest challenge to their bid, W&G’s Higginson said the most important thing was for the branches to get separate management as soon as possible so that value is preserved.

“Having been a division within RBS with a for-sale sign above it for five years, inevitably it’s been slightly neglected,” said Higginson.

“The staff have done a fantastic job in holding the customers, but you know this business needs separate focus, the management vigour that a for-sale sign doesn’t allow you to have.”

Under the W&G plan, RBS would ready the business for sale over about two years by giving it more autonomy, getting a banking licence and making other necessary changes, before passing it over to the investors.

Corsair would install Maltby as chief executive as soon as a deal was done, and he and RBS would work together to prepare the business for independence, a similar model to the one proposed by AnaCap/Blackstone. Maltby said both staff and customers had been living through a “period of uncertainty”. “The quicker the process can come to a successful conclusion and we can get on and build this new bank the better it is for all parties,” he said.—Reuters