UK government sold £2.08 billion of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland 

Royal Bank of Scotland

UK government takes first step to Privatizing Royal Bank of Scotland Group

  • The UK bailed out RBS in 2008 and 2009 by buying shares for £45bn and supplying it with cheap funds.
  • It sold its stake at 330p a share, a 7.6p discount on Monday’s closing price, a third below the price of about 500p the Labour government paid for them.

The UK government has sold a 5.4% stake in Royal Bank of Scotland Group for GBP2.08 billion, taking the milestone first step on the way to returning the bank to full private ownership six years after its GBP45.5 billion bailout during the global financial crisis.

HM Treasury, which is the UK’s economic and finance ministry, has sold 630 million ordinary shares at 330 pence each, leaving it with an overall 72.9% stake in RBS. It now controls 51.5% of the voting rights in the bank, compared with 61.3% before the sale. It said late on Monday it had expected to sell about 600 million ordinary shares.

Source: London Stock Exchange – UK government takes first step to Privatizing RBS

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