Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) CEO Ross McEwan yesterday said that now is “the right time to re-start the share sale process” following the governments’ decision to sell 7.7 per cent of its stake in the company for £2.5bn.
However, it seems as though investors were less enthusiastic, with RBS shares closing down more than 5.3 per cent yesterday.
UK Government Investments sold the tranche of RBS shares for 271p per share, notching up a loss on the average 502p per share the government paid in the £45bn 2008 bailout.
Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf said the loss to the taxpayer of the stake’s sale would be “substantial” to around £2.1bn, but it was “the price paid for financial stability in the depths of the global banking crisis”.
However, Rathbones investment director Jane Sydenham added that now “is a good time to start selling the RBS stock” with the economy in “good shape”.
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