Clydesdale circling RBS branch network

City analysts warned yester‑ day that Royal Bank of Scot‑ land was likely to get less than the £1.3 billion‑£1.6bn the mar‑ ket had valued its Williams & Glyn branches at after Clydes‑ dale Bank’s confirmed takeo‑ ver approach.

Laith Khalaf, an analyst with Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Brexit hasn’t exactly improved banking conditions in the UK, and everyone knows that RBS is a forced seller.”

Another commented: “The sale of the 300 branches has been so problematic and the EU deadline for disposal of end‑2017 an increasing pres‑ sure that it is a buyer’s mar‑ ket for the business. RBS will just want the business off its hands.”

Clydesdale’s disclosure of a “preliminary non‑bind‑ ing proposal” to acquire the branches on Tuesday night comes after rival Santander recently quit talks with RBS to buy the branches for the sec‑ ond time.

Their disposal has been ordered by the EU in return for RBS’S £45 billion state bail‑ out during the financial crash. RBS has spent £1.3bn trying to separate out the Williams & Glyn business, dogged by huge IT complexity.

Under chief executive Dav‑ id Duffy, Clydesdale Bank has said it will consider both organic growth and acquisi‑ tions to establish itself as a lead challenger bank to the Big Four. It floated on the stock market along with its sister operation Yorkshire Bank ear‑ lier this year.

Clydesdale said that it had “a duty to continually evaluate all potential opportunities to enhance its business”, and that talks with RBS were ongoing. 0 David Duffy, chief executive, Clydesdale Bank