Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest government-controlled lender, received three bids for its stake in Sempra Commodities, which value the energy and metals trader at about 2.5 billion pounds ($4 billion), said a person familiar with the matter.

Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Macquarie Group Ltd.
submitted bids before yesterday’s deadline, said the person, who
declined to be identified because the negotiations are private. The
Edinburgh-based lender may select a buyer as soon as this month, the
person said.

RBS, which required 45.5 billion pounds in a taxpayer bailout, is being
forced to divest the unit to comply with European Union state-aid
rules. The lender bought a 51 percent stake in Sempra Commodities for
$1.2 billion in April 2008 as banks expanded their commodity trading
operations, driven by growing investor interest in gold, oil and other
raw materials.

Officials at RBS, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Macquarie declined to
comment. Sempra spokesman Doug Kline declined to comment, citing
corporate policy to not comment on speculation. Sky News reported the
bids earlier today.

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hester, who replaced Fred Goodwin in
2008, is selling or shutting businesses in two-thirds of the 54
countries in which RBS operates. Aberdeen Asset Management Plc,
Scotland’s largest money manager, is in talks to acquire RBS’s fund
management division, two people familiar with the talks said earlier
this week.

Anshu Jain, Deutsche Bank’s co-head of investment banking, said in
December the lender may consider an acquisition to expand its
commodities business, where it aims to be among the top five firms
globally.

JPMorgan, Macquarie

Germany’s biggest bank, which has built its commodities unit
internally, would “also consider an inorganic move,” Jain told
investors in Frankfurt, without specifying targets.

JPMorgan has been expanding its commodities operations, buying Bear
Stearns Cos.’ energy business in 2008 and UBS AG’s global agriculture
and Canadian commodities divisions, a purchase it completed in 2009.
The New York-based bank also bought U.K.-based ClimateCare, which helps
clients reduce carbon emissions and trades reduction credits, in March
2008.

Macquarie Group, Australia’s biggest investment bank, agreed to buy the
North American power-trading portfolio of Integrys Energy Group Inc.
last month and has been expanding through acquisitions in the U.S. and
Europe to boost its operations outside Australia.

Source: Bloomberg

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