Natwest is buying £1bn of shares from the Treasury as the government’s stake falls to 11%.
NatWest bought £1 billion of its shares from the UK Treasury, reducing the government’s stake in the FTSE 100 lender to just over 11%.
The purchase, the second of its kind in 2024, saw NatWest acquire 263 million shares at a price of 380.8p each, a move that chief executive Paul Thwaite described as “an important milestone on the way to a fully independent business.”
The government’s stake in NatWest, formerly Royal Bank of Scotland, had risen to 84% after it was bailed out in the 2008 financial crisis. In recent years, the state has gradually reduced its ownership by selling shares to institutional investors and buying back. In 2024 alone, NatWest has bought back £2.2 billion of shares from the Treasury, reducing the government’s holding by more than two-thirds since December.
The Labor government canceled plans for a public share sale in NatWest in June, which was expected to give the government a 20% stake but was pulled over concerns it could cost taxpayers up to £450 million. A “Tell Sid” style public offering was originally proposed by the previous Conservative government.
The recent sale of the Treasury continues the process of privatizing the bank, which has been a key objective since the taxpayer-funded bailout a decade ago.
