UK's RBS sells Pakistan unit to Faysal Bank

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has sold its Pakistan unit to the Faysal Bank of Pakistan (FBP) for 51 million U.S. dollars, according to a notice issued Wednesday by the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Due to a regulatory disapproval, an earlier deal to sell the unit to the MCB Bank of Pakistan for 87 million U.S. dollars fell through in January.

RBS, majority owned by the British government, sold its 99.37 percent shares in RBS Pakistan. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of the year, it said.

The RBS acquired the unit, now called RBS Pakistan, as part of its disastrous purchase of Dutch lender ABN Amro in 2007, a deal that dragged RBS to the brink of collapse.

The Pakistan operation with a staff of 5,000 serves more than 300,000 customers through 75 branches in 24 cities, said the Edinburgh-based bank.

Faysal Bank, owned by Bahrain parent company Ithmaar, said RBS' business in consumer lending and preferred banking services would complement the Pakistani bank's own consumer lending and retail businesses.

The sale to Faysal is part of RBS's attempts to shed many of its overseas arms in order to focus on core business in Britain, the United States and in major financial centers.