Netherlands Reduces Stake in ABN Amro: A Planned Farewell

The Dutch government plans to reduce its stake in the bank ABN Amro to approximately 30 percent. A corresponding trading program has been introduced to organize the sale of the shares. The state currently holds 40.5 percent of the bank's shares. ABN Amro was originally nationalized during the 2008 financial crisis and re-privatized in 2015. Since the beginning of last year, the Dutch government has been gradually reducing its stake in the institution. This development is part of a broader trend in Europe, where governments are selling the bank shares they acquired during the crisis to benefit from rising stock prices and favorable market conditions. Other European countries like Greece and Germany have recently followed this path. Greece completed its re-privatization in October by selling a stake in the National Bank, while Germany reduced its stake in Commerzbank last month. British bank Barclays has been commissioned to carry out the "careful and orderly" sale of the ABN shares. The sale will start shortly and will end once the desired number of shares has been sold. The share price of ABN Amro was recently at 15.83 euros, representing an increase of about 15 percent since the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, it remains below the opening price of 17.75 euros from November 2015.