Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to dispose of £800 million of property, including the landmark Coutts building in the Strand, Central London, in a sale-and-lease-back deal.

Europe’s second-biggest bank has hired Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial property consultant, to market the portfolio of 60 buildings, mainly offices occupied by RBS, which are spread throughout Britain.

The sale is part of a programme by RBS to maximise value from its operational property estate. The move comes after RBS’s takeover of ABN Amro, the Dutch bank, in a consort-ium with Santander, of Spain, and For-tis, of Belgium. RBS has twice before executed sale-and-lease-back deals from its property portfolio, but this is understood to be the largest. The sale, one of the biggest property portfolios to come on the market this year, coincides with a difficult time for the property industry, which has been hit by the credit crunch, making it harder for purchasers to finance deals.

Santander is close to sealing a deal to sell its property holdings for about €4 billion (£2.7 billion). It is understood to be close to a sale of the most prominent buildings to Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, which owns Zara.

Jenny Davey is Deputy City Editor of The Sunday Times

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