Any rival HBOS bid "effectively improbable" says Burt

LONDON (Reuters) - One of the Scottish business grandees seeking to scupper a takeover of bank HBOS by Lloyds TSB is quoted in a newspaper on Wednesday as saying an alternative deal is now "effectively improbable."

Chancellor Alistair Darling on Tuesday said any renegotiation of a government bailout package for banks would be far more costly now than under the original terms.

"For those seeking to keep HBOS independent it (the Treasury) has raised every hurdle it could find to the highest possible level," Peter Burt, the former chief executive of Bank of Scotland, was quoted as saying in the Scotsman newspaper.

"Although ostensibly leaving the decision to shareholders the barriers to any alternative proposal are now so great as to make any such proposal effectively improbable," he said.

Lloyds TSB shareholders are due to vote on the deal later on Wednesday. HBOS investors are due to vote on December 12.

(Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Greg Mahlich)