MCB Bank Ltd. (MCB.KA) said Monday its board has approved a proposal to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's (RBS) operations in Pakistan.

The acquisition is subject to signing of a share-purchase agreement and approvals from the State Bank of Pakistan and other regulators, MCB said in a statement to the Karachi Stock Exchange.

Royal Bank of Scotland had in February announced a three- to five-year plan to dispose of its non-core assets, including Asia assets as well as a number of businesses related to its unprofitable global banking and markets unit.

"The buyout is beneficial for MCB Bank as RBS has an extensive consumer base," said Mohammed Imran, head of research of First Capital Securities Ltd.

Royal Bank of Scotland currently operates 79 branches in Pakistan and has a loan book of PKR68 billion, deposits of PKR79 billion and assets of PKR108 billion.

Besides MCB Bank, Habib Bank Ltd. (HBL.KA), Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holdings (ORTE.CI) and local JS Group were also interested in buying the assets.

Royal Bank of Scotland had in April said Pakistan's central bank had allowed MCB and Habib Bank to begin due diligence on its operations in the country.

Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and KASB Bank are the financial advisers to MCB for the proposed transaction.

-By Haris Zamir contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 91-11-43563354; meenakshi.ray@dowjones.com