The taxpayer's stake in NatWest Group PLC has been further trimmed to below 27% as the government looks to fully privatise the bank by 2025 or 2026.
In an announcement this morning, the Treasury confirmed that the UK Government Investments Ltd shareholding now stands at just below 34.9 billion or 26.95% of the total.
The Treasury is planning to reduce its stake below 10% by the end of this year, including with a retail offer for the public this year, and fully privatise the bank by 2026.
After bailing out what was known at the time as The Royal Bank of Scotland in the financial crisis, the government became the majority shareholder of RBS in November 2008 with a 58% stake. UK Government Investments is a company wholly owned by HM Treasury.
NatWest shares are up 0.2% to 319.9p today, up around 45% from around 220p at the start of the year.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in the budget that the plan was to sell all state-owned shares in the lender by 2026 and that the Treasury would look at a retail offer "in the next 12 months, subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money".
New US shareholder
While HM Treasury has been selling down its stake, a giant US investor has been buying large chunks of NatWest.
Los Angeles-based investor Capital Group has been a significant buyer and become one of the bank's major shareholders.
The US investment giant, which has more than £2.5 trillion of assets under management, has bought over £110 million of shares in the UK high street lender, putting it among the top 30 shareholders.
It bought up 33 million shares at the end of March, roughly a 0.4% stake, with more purchase since, according to the report
Capital has been impressed with NatWest's recent profitability and representatives have met newly appointed chief executive Paul Thwaite earlier this year.
Among its other UK investments, Capital Group's funds hold major stakes in AstraZeneca, BAE Systems and British American Tobacco, along with Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) and Airbus in Europe.