NatWest buys back another £1bn of its shares: Government’s stake down by more than two-thirds since December last year

NatWest has edged another step nearer to full privatisation after buying back £1billion of its shares from the Government.

The taxpayer-backed lender said it bought 263m shares from the Government at a price of 380.8p each, reducing the stake to around 11.4 per cent from 14.81 per cent, as at the end of October.

NatWest has now bought back £2.2billion of state-owned shares so far this year through two rounds of buybacks.

Together with ongoing share sales by the Treasury, this has helped slash the Government’s stake by more than two-thirds since December last year, down from 38 per cent.

NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite said: ‘This transaction represents another important milestone on the path to full privatisation. 

‘We believe it is a positive use of capital for the bank and for our shareholders and we are pleased with the sustained momentum in reducing the Treasury’s stake.’

NatWest received several multi-billion-pound bailouts during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, leaving the Government with an 84 per cent stake in what was then known as Royal Bank of Scotland. 

But the Treasury has been selling down its stake in the lender as it looks to return the bank to private hands.

In March, the stake fell below 30 per cent, meaning the Government was no longer classed as a controlling shareholder in the lender.

Labour abandoned previous Conservative plans for a share sale to the public after winning the election in July.

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