The Treasury is on track to complete the sale of the taxpayer’s stake in NatWest Group as early as spring next year, as officials consider whether to launch another share offering in the rescued bank.
Sky News can reveal that, based on the current pace of share disposals by UK Government Investments (UKGI), the final remainder of the state’s original £45.5bn stake will be returned to private ownership as soon as May 2025.
if Rachel ReevesThe Adviser chooses to launch an equity offering with institutional investors or a directed buyback using NatWestWith excess capital, the final shares may be sold sooner, market sources said on Wednesday.
The Treasury previously expected the sale to be completed by 2025-26, subject to market conditions and value-for-money sentiment.
One Whitehall source said the timetable was unlikely to be amended in documents accompanying next week’s budget.
But they acknowledged that it was now conceivable that the final disposition of the shares would take place within six months, with the current trading plan returning about one percentage point of the bank’s shares to private ownership about every two weeks.
At the start of this year, the Treasury’s stake in NatWest was 38%, while stock market data earlier this month showed it had fallen to just under 16%.
A stock market filing showing the stake has fallen below 15% could be made as early as next week, according to an insider, with the company updating the stock market on its third-quarter performance on Thursday.
It would mark the end of a 17-year journey precipitated by a funding crisis in the global banking system, leaving Britain’s biggest banks dependent on state support in their fight for survival.
Even after the dividends and other fees received from NatWest during the period of partial government ownership, the government will accumulate losses amounting to tens of billions of pounds on its initial investment.
Northern Rock was subsequently sold to Virgin Money, while the taxpayer’s stake in Lloyds Banking Group was fully divested in 2017.
The Treasury Department and NatWest declined to comment.