Royal Bank of Scotland Group plans to raise as much as $1.9 billion in the latest sale of shares in its U.S. unit Citizens Financial Group to investors.
The bank, which currently owns 40.8% of Citizens, will offer as many as 75 million shares to institutional investors, according to an amended S-1 registration statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. The stock closed at $25.94 on Monday in New York.
The sale marks the second time RBS has reduced its holding in its U.S. consumer bank this year, as part of Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan's plan to shrink global operations and return to profit after seven straight annual losses.
The latest sale will take RBS's stake in Citizens to about 26.8%, meaning that the British lender is no longer required to include the company in quarterly earnings. RBS reports first-half earnings on July 30.
RBS has granted investment banks handling the sale the option to place an additional 11.25 million shares as part of the stock offering. That would take the Edinburgh-based lender's stake down to 24.7%.
Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group are coordinating the sale, while RBS, Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, UBS Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo Securities are joint bookrunners, according to the filing. Barclays, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Sandler O'Neill & Partners are co-managers.
