JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in exclusive talks with Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to buy RBS Sempra Commodities, a joint venture with U.S. firm Sempra Energy, people familiar with the situation said Wednesday.
If the deal closes, it would catapult JPMorgan Chase into the premier league of commodities firms — including energy, metals and agriculture — from being a relatively large player now.
RBS selected JPMorgan Chase from a shortlist of three bidders over the past few days, one of the people said. The other bids were submitted by Deutsche Bank AG and Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd., people have previously said. Bids came in at about $4 billion, they said.
JPMorgan Chase and RBS declined to comment.
