Santander 'to make takeover bid for Yorkshire Bank Group'

Posted by Ron Maverick

Santander is reportedly planning a £2 billion takeover bid for Yorkshire Bank and its sister organisation Clydesdale Bank.

The pair are said to be keen to enter into such a deal after sales negotiations to buy 316 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branches collapsed in October last year, a move that would have enabled it to make its first major steps into the UK business banking market.

National Bank Australia, which owns the Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks, may be willing to sell the pair, which made a loss of £25 million for the six months ending in March 2012.

Santander has made several acquisitions of UK banks and building societies in recent years, including Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, and Bradford & Bingley.

The attempt to buy the RBS Group branches took place in the context of the troubled bank, which was bailed out by the taxpayer in 2009, to divest itself of the branches as a condition of the bailout determined by the European Commission.