American Express To Bid For WorldPay (RBS, AXP)

American Express Co. AXP has entered the race for Royal Bank of Scotland’s RBS payment processing arm. The bank is collaborating with British private equity firm Permira for the bid. The Financial Times has reported that French software firm Atos Origin has also teamed up with the private equity consortium of CVC Capital Partners and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe for WorldPay. The newspaper has also said that RBS (RBS) would prefer to sell its Global Merchant Services unit to a strategic partnership capable of running the business. Royal Bank of Scotland expects the sale to fetch $4 billion-$4.8 billion. The government owns an 84% stake in the bank. RBS is being forced by the regulators to sell its assets in order to recoup billions of dollars worth of bailout funds.