UK government plans further sale of state-owned NatWest shares
The UK Treasury is set to reduce its stake in NatWest by selling another chunk of the bank off in the next 12 months.
NatWest plans to become fully private again by 2026
NatWest was bailed out by the UK government during the financial crisis. Then known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), it received a rescue package worth £45.5 billion.
News of the latest sale set NatWest’s value at £23 billion, with shares closing at around 206p at the end of last week.
That figure remains some way off the 502p per share paid to bail out the bank, when the government took hold of an around 80% stake.
Shares will be sold to the market through Morgan Stanley, and the Treasury says they will only be distributed “at a price that represents value for money for taxpayers”.
It adds: “The final number of shares sold will depend on, amongst other factors, the share price and market conditions throughout its duration.”
Lloyds Banking Group, another institution bailed out during the crisis, sold its last government-owned share in 2017. NatWest plans to return to full private ownership by 2026.
