Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is understood to be sounding out potential purchasers for its estate of about 1,000 pubs.

The leased and tenanted outlets, estimated to be worth more than £600 million, were acquired from Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the brewer now controlled by Heineken, between 2000 and 2001, for about £450 million.

The brewer continues to manage the estate through its S&N Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) unit, which - as part of the sale to RBS - retained a long-term management services contract in addition to a contract to supply beer to the pubs.

It is understood that the contracts would not be affected by a sale of the business, in which S&NPE retains a small financial interest.

Analysts said that the pubs, with earnings of about £70 million, had attracted interest from at least three property investment companies and one possible trade buyer, but cautioned that finding a buyer able to fund a deal could prove difficult in the current financial climate.

At the time of the acquisition, RBS said it was “not moving into the pubs business”, adding: “This is a purely financial deal which provides us with a high quality income stream.”

The latest move is part of a wide-ranging review of the bank's property assets.

S&NPE runs about 2,000 pubs on behalf of property investors, including 424 that are owned by Robert Tchenguiz's Globe Pub Company. It emerged last week that Globe is close to breaching its covenants and is in danger of falling into administration, putting its relations with S&NPE under severe strain.

S&NPE also has a number of pubs under a development deal with British Waterways and itself owns between 50 and 100 pubs.

RBS, which has been seeking to sell assets ranging from trains to hotels, declined to comment, but a source said: “We constantly review our property portfolios and holdings.”

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