The taxpayer stake in NatWest fell below 27 per cent yesterday as the Treasury prepares for a public share sale that could be launched within weeks.
The lender – then known as Royal Bank of Scotland – received a £46bn bailout during the financial crisis, leaving it 84 per cent owned by the Government.
Now the Treasury is accelerating its efforts to offload its stake.
At the end of last year it stood at just under 38 percent. Yesterday the Government announced the latest drop of one percentage point in its participation, to 26.95 percent.
And it is expected to sell a further portion of the business in a public share offering this summer, designed to echo the ‘Tell Sid’ privatization wave of the 1980s.
Share sale: NatWest, then known as Royal Bank of Scotland, received a £46bn bailout during the financial crisis, leaving it 84% owned by the government.
The Government has committed to exit its shareholding by the end of the 2025-26 financial year.
Chairman Rick Haythornthwaite said last month that NatWest was keen to end the “regrettable history” of government involvement and declared that “a return to private ownership is now on the horizon”.
Share They are up more than 45 percent this year and are up 90 percent since the end of October.
They are at their best level since the summer of 2015. Profits in 2023 rose to their highest level since 2007.