Natwest: Government set to sell stake in FTSE 100 giant by June
The UK government is on track to sell its remaining stake in FTSE 100 lender Natwest as soon as next month after it accelerated the sell-down of its holdings.
The Treasury’s share of the FTSE 100 lender is one of British banking’s longest-running sagas, dating back to the 2008 financial crisis.
Natwest, then under the Royal Bank of Scotland moniker, received a £46bn bailout from the government as it fought for survival.
The bank’s shares tanked 96 per cent in the fallout as the government acquired an 80 per cent stake as part of its rescue plan.
Up until 2022, the taxpayer was still the majority shareholder in the company. The government sold a chunk of its shares in March 2022, taking its stake to 48.1 per cent.
The government continued at a gradual pace with its share in the bank sitting at 38 per cent at the start of 2024.
But over the last year, the Treasury has moved at pace to push Natwest back into private ownership.
Government set to exit Natwest holding
On January 14 2025, the government reduced its stake to 8.9 per cent, following a sale of 86.4m shares.
This averages an over two per cent share sell-off per month.
Just yesterday, Natwest announced the government’s stake had fallen under one per cent in its latest reduction.
This continued the pace of an average two per cent reduction per month.
Whilst there is no confirmed date that the firm will re-enter private ownership, this trajectory puts it on track for a full exit from partial government ownership by June.
Shares in Natwest smashed a decade high on Thursday after a one per cent gain to highs of 498.8p.
But the new records are dwarfed by its pre-financial crisis share price high of 5236.28p.
A Natwest Group spokesperson said: “Returning the bank to full private ownership is an ambition we share with the government, and one that we believe is in the interests of all our shareholders.
“We welcome the progress that the Treasury continues to make, having reduced its shareholding in the bank from nearly 40 per cent in December 2023 to below one per cent today.”