UK to sell half its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland: Reports
07 Jul 2015
The UK government intended to sell half of its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), valued £16 billion (€23bn), within two years of a possible first sale in September, according to sources with knowledge of government thinking have said, Reuters reported.
UK chancellor George Osborne had indicated that he was looking to start cutting his government's £32-billion stake over the coming months.
According to commentators, the shares would be sold at a faster rate than earlier expected, making it likely the government would take a substantial loss on the initial sales.
The final decisions on the UK's biggest privatisation has yet to be made and progress would depend upon RBS's performance, market conditions and ongoing investigations into past misconduct, according to the sources.