RBS raises £3.6bn after Angel save

Royal Bank of Scotland today struck a £3.6bn (€4.5bn) deal to sell the UK’s biggest train leasing company.

The sale of Angel Trains to a consortium advised by investment firm Babcock & Brown forms part of RBS’s plans to shore up its finances and focus on its main banking business.

Angel – bought by RBS in 1997 for £408m (€515m) – provides around 4,800 locomotives and coaches to passenger and freight operators in the UK and Europe.

Its customers include 18 of the UK’s 20 train operating companies and it has major fleets with South West Trains and Virgin West Coast.