RBS gets 3 bids for Angel Trains -sources

By Mathieu Robbins

LONDON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) has received three firm bids for Angel Trains, the train leasing unit that it may sell for more than 3 billion pounds ($5.97 billion), people close to the matter said on Friday.

Investment bank Lazard -- which is running the auction for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) -- is evaluating the offers, which came in this week, and is expected to take several weeks to decide on a buyer, said the people.

U.S. insurer AIG (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), bidding with Australian infrastructure investor Babcock & Brown and investment bank Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), made one of the offers.

Australian bank Macquarie MBL.AX is another bidder, and British financier Guy Hands's Terra Firma made a third offer, said the people.

The bidders had undertaken due diligence since November.

Angel Trains has more than 40 percent of the railway rolling stock leasing market in Britain and more than 5,300 vehicles across Europe. It was formed in 1994 from the privatisation of British Rail.

The UK business is viewed as generating stable cashflow, and has attracted interest from banks and infrastructure investors. They flock to buy assets like utilities, whose cashflow can be used to pay interest on bonds they issue.

The continental European business is viewed by bidders as providing potential higher growth.