Santander and Barclays vie to take over TSB
Barclays and Santander were named on Friday as the two frontrunners to buy TSB as the deadline for initial offers for the high street lender passed.
The British and Spanish banks were reported by Bloomberg to be the main contenders still standing in the auction to sell TSB by its current owner, Sabadell.
Sabadell, which is under siege itself from a rival Spanish bank, BBVA, is due to choose a preferred bidder with which to carry on exclusive talks, or to walk away from a sale.
• Who will buy TSB as banks circle?
As both prospective bidders operate large retail banks in the UK, either bid offers the prospect of significant synergies — but heavy job losses — if it were to go through. TSB, which has about five million customers and 5,000 UK employees, has already slashed its branch network in recent years.
The Competition and Markets Authority is not thought likely to object, although either deal would marginally reduce competition. TSB is thought to have around 3 per cent share of current accounts and 1.5 per cent share of the stock of mortgages.
Sabadell confirmed last week that it had received some preliminary non-binding expressions of interest for TSB, which was spun out of Lloyds Banking Group and briefly floated in 2014 before being bought by Sabadell for £1.7 billion in 2015.
The Spanish government this week gave BBVA the green light to proceed with a bid for Sabadell, while saying the two sides would have to keep their operations separate for at least three years.
• Is it game over for Britain's challenger banks?
Sabadell's chief executive, César González-Bueno Mayer, said on Wednesday that he expected a decision on TSB before he unveils a strategic plan on July 24.
Analysts estimate that TSB could fetch as much as £2.6 billion. Higher interest rates and significant cost-cutting have improved its perceived value. TSB's operations are based on Sabadell's IT platform and a UK bidder would be likely to want to migrate customers to its own platform over time.
Edinburgh-based TSB traces its roots back to the 19th century, when dozens of individual trustee savings banks were founded to serve people of moderate means under a mutual structure. It was first floated in 1986 and rescued by Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB.
Barclays had no comment. Santander was approached for comment.
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