Financier may target Direct Line and Widows

Tungsten, the bid vehicle co-founded by financier Edmund Truell, would consider buying Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group’s insurance units, but has not made approaches to either bank yet, Mr Truell has said.

By The Newsroom

Published 2nd May 2012, 07:00 BST

“They are amongst the businesses that we would consider,” he said yesterday after newspapers reported Tungsten had approached Lloyds and RBS about buying Scottish Widows and Direct Line respectively.

Mr Truell plans to raise an initial tranche of between £100m and £200m from institutional investors in a stock market flotation this month.

RBS is selling its Leeds-based insurance arm to win regulatory approval for a taxpayer-funded bailout it received in 2008, and has said it plans to float the Direct Line business in the second half of the year.

Lloyds has said Scottish Widows, headed by former Aviva executive Toby Strauss, is not for sale.

Royal Bank of Scotland Lloyds Banking Group