By Elena Vardon

The U.K government trimmed its stake in NatWest Group to under 8%, progressing with plans that could see the bank return to private ownership in the coming months.

The Treasury disposed of 74.3 million ordinary shares in the London-based retail and commercial lender, regulatory filings showed Tuesday. This reduced its shareholding to 7.98% from 8.90%.

It now holds 2.57 billion voting rights in the lender, equal to 642.6 million shares, which are worth 2.71 billion pounds ($3.39 billion) based on Monday's closing price of 422.2 pence a share.

The latest reduction is part of the government's plan to steadily exit its position in the bank, which could conclude as early as the first half of this year.

The government's stake in the bank resulted from its 2008 bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland, which bought NatWest in 2000 and rebranded the enlarged company as NatWest Group in 2020. The U.K. spent 45.5 billion pounds on the bailout and, at one point, owned 84% of the bank.

Shares in NatWest have gained 88% in the last 12 months.

Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2025 05:52 ET (10:52 GMT)

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