NatWest buys back shares worth £1.26bn from the UK government
The UK government has sold £1.26 billion worth of its shares in NatWest back to the bank, reducing its stake to 38.6%.
NatWest buys back shares worth £1.26bn from the UK government
NatWest Group purchased 469,200,081 of ordinary shares off-market, with a nominal value of £1.0769 each, at a price of 268.4 pence per ordinary share, as of 19 May 2023.
Last month, the UK Treasury had put plans to return NatWest to private hands on hold for two years, after uncertainty in the banking sector had depressed share value.
The sale, the sixth block sale of shares since 2008, reduces the government’s stake from a pre-sale 41.4% – and down from 84% at its peak – when it had intervened in NatWest following the global financial crisis of 2008.
The UK government intends to fully exit the shareholding by 2025-2026, subject to market conditions and achieving value for money for taxpayers.
Andrew Griffith, the economic secretary to the Treasury, says the sale represents a “major milestone” in returning NatWest to full private ownership “as promised”, adding that the government has now sold “well over half” of its shareholding in the bank.
