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Australian retail banking major National Australia Bank may team up with US private equity group Blackstone, and British buy-out firm Revolution in a potential bid for as many as 300 branches of troubled British banking giant Royal Bank of Scotland, according to the Financial Times.

Spokespersons for both private equity groups either declined to comment or could not be reached.

RBS is almost fully nationalized after the British government acquired an 84 per cent stake in a government sponsored bailout designed to rescue the troubled lender at the height of the global financial crisis.

The bailout has meant the European Union has mandated that the lender divest part of its branch banking network and non-core banking assets, and has been given four years to do so.

A banking source told Reuters last month that National Australia Bank and Spanish bank Santander could be interested in acquiring RBS branches.

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