Dutch State set to sell off another 10 percent of ABN Amro

The Dutch State plans to sell another 10 percent of its ABN Amro shares, bringing its stake in the bank down to around 40 percent. The sale will happen through a pre-arranged trading plan executed by BofA Securities Europe, said the NLFI, the foundation that manages government interests in financial institutions on behalf of the Dutch State.

The trading plan will start in the coming days and end when all the available shares have been sold. It will reduce the Dutch State’s stake in the bank from 49.5 percent to approximately 40 percent.

Afterward, Minister Sigrid Kaag of Finance will inform parliament how much the shares raised. According to Bloomberg, the shares the Dutch State is now selling are currently worth about 1 billion euros.

The Dutch government nationalized ABN Amro to prevent its collapse during the global credit crisis that started in 2008. At the bank’s IPO in November 2015, the State announced its intention to gradually reduce its interest in ABN Amro.

In September, Kaag announced that the government had reduced its shares in the bank to just under 50 percent.