RBS insurance unit draws late interest-paper

LONDON (Reuters) - Private equity firms Apollo Management and BC Partners have joined up with former Norwich Union boss Patrick Snowball to mount a late bid for Royal Bank of Scotland's insurance division, The Sunday Times reported.

But it said despite the new interest, RBS, which is more than half-owned by the UK taxpayer, may ditch the sale talks as new Chief Executive Stephen Hester is keen to retain the Churchill and Direct Line businesses.

A spokesman for RBS declined to comment while Apollo and BC Partners could not be immediately reached for comment.

Separately, a report in Saturday's Financial Times said RBS has put its near 1,000 pub estate up for sale. It said the business could fetch 600 million pounds.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by David Cowell)