RBS preps for goverment stake sale with shareholder vote

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is preparing shareholders for the government to sell down its 79% stake in the lender by asking them to vote on costs related to a sale at its annual general meeting.

Philip Hampton, the chairman, has written to investors asking them to support the "related party transaction", which will mean RBS pays the cost of publishing any documents needed for the share sale. Hampton wrote that RBS should have held the vote and got the green light from shareholders when the government completed a £45bn bailout in 2009, but this was "not obtained". He did not say why. The letter made clear that any sell-down of the government's stake is at the "sole discretion of HM Treasury", according to the Telegraph. But it said RBS believes the move is in the "best inte...