23rd Mar 2015 11:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC is planning a new sale of Citizens Financial Group Inc shares that could reduce the banking group's holding in the North American lender to 46.1% from its current stake of 70.3%.
Citizens, which is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Monday said that RBS is planning to sell 115 million shares in the US retail bank it floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014, a move which would reduce its stake to 49.3%.
If the underwriters of the sale take up their rights to buy the maximum of up to an additional 17.3 million shares, RBS will see its stake in Citizens shrink to 46.1%, equivalent to 252.5 million shares.
RBS is looking to fully exit its investment in Citizens by 2016, as RBS Chief Executive Ross McEwan continues to scale down the group's international operations in favour of a strategy based on lending to customers in the UK.
The offering is being made through global coordinators and joint book-running managers Morgan Stanley and Goldman, Sachs & Co and joint book runners JP Morgan and Citigroup.
RBS shares were up 0.6% at 358.30 pence in London on Monday morning. Citizens shares closed in New York at USD24.80 on Friday.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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