Talks to sell a stake in state-owned Royal Bank of Scotland are being held at the level of the Abu Dhabi ruling family.
Amanda Staveley, a businesswoman notable for her Middle Eastern connections, was advising the emirate’s rulers. “The talks have been going on for six months, and nothing is likely to materialize for the next few months,” a source told Reuters, adding that Abu Dhabi could end up with a stake of more than a third, though it has not decided which of its entities would hold the stake.
Staveley played a prominent role in Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahayan’s 2008 investment in another British bank, Barclays.
Abu Dhabi investors had discussed a 10 billion pound ($16 billion) investment in RBS.
A stake buy by Abu Dhabi would be the first move on a large financial asset by Gulf investors since the 2008 financial crisis, when regional royals and sovereign funds bought into Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Barclays.
An Abu Dhabi government official declined to comment.
Shares in RBS, in which the British government took an 83 percent stake in 2008, closed at 28.67 pence.
