(Repeats story that ran late Friday)
* Talks over settlement with hold-out shareholder group
* Four groups have settled with RBS over 2008 cash call
* Millionaire businessman Hemmings backs claimants
* Case scheduled to come to court in May
By Andrew MacAskill, Kirstin Ridley and Lawrence White
LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Lawyers representing tens of thousands of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shareholders have held tentative talks to settle a 1.2 billion pound ($1.5 billion) damages claim over the lender's 2008 rights issue that was launched shortly before a state bailout, two sources said.
The sources, who are familiar with the situation, said RBS and the RBoS Shareholder Action group, which includes 27,000 private investors, former and current RBS staff and about 100 institutions, had discussed an out-of-court deal.
In a move highlighting the difficulties of rallying such a vast group -- the last of five shareholder claims yet to settle with the bank -- one source warned that some retail investors were determined to take the case to trial in May.
One of the investors backing those retail claimants is multimillionaire businessman Trevor Hemmings, according to court documents seen by Reuters. His involvement will go some way to answering questions by RBS and a judge as to whether the claimants have adequate funding.
The bank has been applying pressure on the shareholder group to reveal its backers and sources of funding after it switched legal teams three times and some institutions broke away in 2015 to launch separate litigation.
A settlement would end one of the most complex and costly litigation battles in English legal history.
It would also spare RBS, which is still more than 70 percent owned by the state, a lengthy and potentially embarrassing court case that would put its disgraced former chief executive Fred Goodwin and other former senior staff in the witness box.
A spokesman confirmed that Hemmings is part-funding the litigation through his private vehicle London and Northern Capital Partners.
SEEKING REDRESS
“Mr Hemmings was a supportive investor in RBS for many years and backed the rights issue. However, like many other investors, he feels the basis on which he participated in the rights issue was misleading and is rightfully seeking redress," the spokesman added.
"Mr Hemmings stands shoulder to shoulder with thousands of private shareholders seeking to hold the company to account.”
Hemmings lost "a considerable amount of money" as a result of the collapse in RBS's share price in 2009, according to comments made by his spokesman to the Lancashire Post newspaper at the time, though he denied it was as much as the 700 million pound ($868 million) reported by the Sunday Times.