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The deal itself was required as one of the remedies demanded by the European Commission for the £54 billion of state aid that RBS has received from the UK government. The bank remains a minority (20%) shareholder in the business, which generated operating profits of £249 million in 2009 and is Europe’s largest payments processor. When the deal was announced it attracted strong interest from private equity buyers – which had money to burn as a legacy of their pre-2007 fundraising but were short of quality opportunities in Europe. RBS, which was advised by UBS, received more than 12 bids for the business from a range of buyers including Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, TPG, Apax and Permira but the business eventually went to Bain Capital and Advent International.
The fact that the deal included a £1.2 billion stapled financing package didn’t hurt, but the £970 million loan financing to back the LBO really marked a turning point for the leveraged finance market in Europe in 2010.