By Elena Vardon


The U.K. government has reduced its stakeholding in British lender NatWest to 29.82% from 30.98%, regulatory filings showed on Monday.

The Treasury's disposal was completed on March 22, according to the filings. It now holds 10.44 billion shares, worth 27.25 billion pounds ($34.34 billion) based on Friday's closing price of 261.10 pence.

The U.K.'s stake in the bank resulted from the government's 2008 bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland, which bought NatWest in 2000 and rebranded the enlarged company as NatWest Group in 2020. The government spent GBP45.5 billion pounds of taxpayer money on the bailout and at one point owned 84% of the bank.

U.K.'s Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt plans to start a retail sale to sell down part of its stake this summer at the earliest, he said in his Spring Budget.

NatWest shares--which are up 18% since the start of the year--trade 0.9% lower at 258.7 pence at 1203 GMT, while the FTSE 100 slips 0.49%.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-25-24 0824ET