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LONDON (Reuters) - Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) is investigating a plan to list its British businesses that would value the operations at 15 billion pounds ($23.6 billion), according to the Sunday Times.

A number of major institutional investors were sounded out on the proposed float of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the savings arm of Bradford & Bingley last week, the paper said.

The move is one of several options being considered by the bank to raise capital as it looks at buying a network of 300 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L).

The Sunday Times report added that Santander would sell a minority stake of approximately 25 percent in the UK banking operations. Santander, the euro zone's largest bank, declined to comment.

Santander's UK arm last week posted a 30 percent rise in 2009 profit, meeting its target of double-digit growth, as it grabbed a larger share of the mortgage and current or checking account markets.

The bank, which boosted its UK position with opportunistic purchases during the financial crisis, said it now holds shares of around 10 percent in all core British retail markets -- mortgages, savings and current accounts.

(Reporting by Lorraine Turner; Editing by David Holmes)

(Editing by David Holmes)