Up to three groups are expected to bid for Edinburgh-based UK Green Investment Bank by Monday’s deadline, according to Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg said Sustainable Development Capital LLP is leading one group and Macquarie Group Ltd is considering a bid either on its own or with other investors for the state-owned bank.

Final bids need to be tabled by September 12 after the deadline was extended by almost two months because some interested parties needed more time to assess the assets, Bloomberg said.

The sale is expected to fetch more than £4 billion.

Green Investment Bank was set up in 2012 and is the world’s first bank dedicated to green infrastructure investments.

Its chairman is veteran Scottish financier Robert Smith, who is also chairman of Dundee-based closed end fund specialist Alliance Trust.