UK Government Considers NatWest Retail Offer

By Elena Vardon

U.K. finance chief Jeremy Hunt said the government will explore selling down its stake in British lender NatWest through a retail share offer over the coming year.

The government owns a 38.69% stake in NatWest. In May, the Treasury sold around 1.26 billion pounds ($1.58 billion) in shares back to the bank in an off-market purchase bringing its stake down from 41.4% previously.

The U.K.'s stake in the lender resulted from the government's 2008 bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland, which rebranded as NatWest in 2020. The government spent GBP45.5 billion of taxpayer money on the bailout and at one point owned 84% of the bank.

RBS bought NatWest in 2000.

"I will explore options for a NatWest retail share offer in the next 12 months subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money," Hunt said as part of his U.K. autumn budget statement on Wednesday.

NatWest shares traded 1.1% lower at 204.8 pence at 1336 GMT, having dipped to 202.5 pence shortly after Hunt's statement. The wider FTSE 100 index edges down 0.15%.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 22, 2023 08:52 ET (13:52 GMT)

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