RBS in MUFJ project deal
ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) is in talks to sell a $6.4bn (£4bn) project finance book to Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, which includes loans for London’s orbital M25 motorway and a gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Sources told City AM the sale would help the government–backed bank boost its balance sheet.
RBS, led by chief executive Stephen Hester, has been shedding non-core assets over the past year including the sale of 300 branches to Santander over the summer.
The portfolio is believed to include a loan RBS extended last year for the widening of London’s M25 orbital motorway and financing for a pipeline that will ship 55bn cubic metres of Russian gas to Germany and the European Union in 2011 and 2012.
The bank does not plan to exit project finance if a deal goes ahead and plans to retain its UK origination staff, though lending has been slimmed down.
Both RBS and Mitsubishi UFJ declined to comment.