£420m Natwest sell-off

THE Government has sold a £420m stake in Natwest 14 years after it bailed out the bank at the height of the financial crisis.

The Treasury sold around 1pc of its holding in the Royal Bank of Scotland owner, equivalent to 170m shares. But it will have made a heavy loss in the latest sale. Natwest’s stock was valued at less than 250p when the transaction took place on Thursday.

This is a far cry from the 502p per share the Government originally paid.

The Treasury and Natwest have said it was inevitable not all of the 2008 £46bn bailout would be recouped because it is a smaller bank than before the crisis and it was a rescue deal rather than an investment