Macquarie may offer £3.7bn bid for RBS Aviation

Macquarie Group, the Australian banking and infrastructure business, may be preparing a bid for the aircraft leasing business of Royal Bank of Scotland in a deal expected to fetch around £3.7 billion ($5.85 billion).

If successful the deal for RBS Aviation Capital would be the single largest divestment for the beleaguered, 82% taxpayer-owned Edinburgh-based bank. The bank took £45.5bn in Government aid during the 2008 financial crisis.

That such an offer was in the making was revealed in the Australian Financial Review, which quoted people close to the deal as saying Macquarie had looked at several options, including making a direct offer for the whole business, parts of the business or putting together a consortium to bid for the assets.