The Dutch government plans to sell shares worth about €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in ABN Amro Bank NV as it continues to retreat from a holding acquired during the financial crisis over a decade ago.
The state will lower its stake to about 40% from the current 49.5% in the coming days, its investment vehicle NLFI said in a statement on Thursday. The minimum price for the share sale is still being considered and the plan will be managed by BofA Securities, while Rothschild & Co is acting as financial adviser to NLFI, according to the statement.
The 9.5% stake is worth about €1 billion at current market prices, according to Bloomberg calculations. ABN Amro’s shares slipped as much as 2.7% at 10:49 a.m. in Amsterdam.
The stake sale is the next step in the Dutch government’s plan to wind down its holdings in the lender. The government bailed out ABN Amro at the height of the financial crisis and then contributed to its transformation from a global bank to a consumer-focused lender for the local market.
In 2015, ABN Amro was re-listed on the stock exchange, after which the government said it would gradually reduce its stake. Its holding fell below 50% in September.
The Dutch government’s decision to rescue the bank during the crisis ultimately set its coffers back by an estimated €6.7 billion, Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag said last month in a letter to parliament. While the lender’s share price was insufficient to recoup the government’s total expenses, it was “not realistic” to wait for it to hit a level that would enable the government to break even, she said in the letter.
ABN Amro has drawn takeover interest from competitors in the past, with BNP Paribas SA reaching out to the Dutch government last year, Bloomberg News has reported. The preliminary contact did not progress to a more advanced stage, people familiar with the matter said at the time.
Read More: BNP Paribas Is Said to Show Interest in Buying ABN Amro
The stake sale comes amid a developing political landscape in the Netherlands where the current government operates in a caretaker position, while various parties are vying to form a ruling coalition after national elections last week.
In a letter to parliament on Thursday, Kaag said that the government’s stake sale might continue before a new government is formed. She said the share sale will reduce debt but won’t have implications on the budget.
The Dutch government on Thursday kept open the possibility of alternative ways to cut is ABN Amro stake including through accelerated private placements.
The lender concluded a €500 million share buyback in April. It announced earlier this month that it will update its financial targets and payouts policies along with full-year results in February.
(Updates with context in second paragraph and from sixth paragraph)
