LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) June 19, 2000--Standard&Poor's today assigned its triple-'B'-plus rating to the additional value shares (AVS) to be issued by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBSG; A+/Stable/A-1) on July 12, 2000. RBSG announced its intention to issue this new instrument at the time of its offer for National Westminster Bank PLC (AA-/Stable/A-1+); the offer was successfully concluded on March 6, 2000. The rationale for the AVS--which are to be issued to RBSG ordinary shareholders as a bonus issue--is to return internally generated capital that is deemed to be excess to ordinary requirements. In total, about 2.7 billion AVS will be issued by capitalizing about £27 million standing to the credit of RBSG's share
