The U.K. government is gearing up to sell a multibillion-pound chunk of its majority stake in Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, potentially as soon as the week of May 28, Sky News reported, citing bankers.
The potential sale of £3 billion worth of shares in RBS would cut the 70.5% taxpayer interest in the bank to about 60%. The shares being sold are said to equal roughly 10% of RBS. It is not clear whether the sale would happen before or after the bank's May 30 annual general meeting, according to the report.
The government indicated in its autumn budget last year that it expects to resume the privatization process by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year — which runs from April 6 to April 5 — and expects to off-load £15 billion worth of shares over the next four years through 2022.
Rothschild ?is serving as the Treasury's capital markets adviser on the deal, and Goldman Sachs as the government's wider privatization adviser. Credit Suisse, Citi, Morgan Stanley and UBS also likely have a role to play, sources told Sky News.
In August 2015, the U.K. offloaded a 5.4% stake in RBS, which it bailed out at the height of the global financial crisis. Britain's stake in RBS is managed by UK Financial Investments Ltd.
