By Cristina Gallardo
The U.K. government reduced its stake in NatWest Group to just below 9%, progressing with plans that could see the bank return to private ownership as early as the first half of this year.
The Treasury disposed of 86.4 million ordinary shares in the London-based retail and commercial lender, bringing its stake down to 8.9% from 9.99% previously, regulatory filings showed on Tuesday.
It now holds 2.87 billion voting rights, NatWest said.
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.
NatWest shares have risen 82.4% in the last 12 months, giving it a market capitalization of around 31.2 billion pounds.
Write to Cristina Gallardo at cristina.gallardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 14, 2025 05:53 ET (10:53 GMT)
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