Julius Baer Group Ltd. (SWX:BAER), DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX:D05), Societe Generale Group (ENXTPA:GLE) and Bank J. Safra Sarasin AG are seeking acquisition of Coutts & Co Ltd from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (LSE:RBS). Coutts International has drawn interest from DBS Group Holdings Ltd. which has teamed up with Societe Generale SA, and J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG, according to the people. Some potential bidders such as Julius Baer Group Ltd. have been discouraged by the exclusion of the private bank's technology infrastructure, which RBS will keep for the U.K. operations it is retaining.

The bids could decline about 10% to 15%, two of the people said. Coutts International may fetch at least $600 million, a person said last month. Boris Collardi, Chief Executive Officer of Julius Baer Group, said last week, “the bank is not among bidders for Coutts International.” Spokesmen for DBS Group Holdings, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, J. Safra Sarasin Holding and Societe Generale SA declined to comment.