According to information brought forth by a source in-the-know, speaking on the condition of anonymity, the board of Pakistan's MCB Bank has approved a nearly PKR7.5 billion ($90 million) acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Group's Pakistan operations. The offer price is almost 0.76 times RBS Pakistan's book value, as of March 31.

In a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange, MCB - Pakistan's foremost bank in terms of market value - said that its proposed acquisition of RBS' operations in the country is subject to the inking of a share-purchase deal, as well as the requisite approvals from the State Bank of Pakistan and other regulators.

For the proposed acquisition deal, MCB's financial advisers include Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and KASB Bank.

After RBS' February announcement of its three- to five-year plan to dispose of its non-core assets - comprising its businesses in 36 countries; the companies, other than MCB, that showed interest in buying the mentioned assets included Habib Bank Ltd., Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holdings and Pakistan's JS Group.

Referring to RBS' 79 branches presently operating in Pakistan, with assets worth PKR108 billion, deposits of PKR79 billion, and loan book of PKR68 billion; Mohammed Imran, chief of research of First Capital Securities Ltd., remarked: "The buyout is beneficial for MCB Bank as RBS has an extensive consumer base."