RBS raises $2.6B selling last Citizens Financial shares

WASHINGTON – Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the lender that spun off Citizens Financial Group Inc. last year, raised $2.6 billion with the sale of its last shares in the U.S. regional bank.

RBS sold 110.5 million shares, or a stake of about 21 percent, at $23.38 apiece, according to a statement Friday from Citizens Financial. Providence, R.I.-based Citizens closed at $24.11 in New York on Thursday.

The Scottish firm was required by European authorities to dispose of the shares by the end of 2016. It withdrew a representative from the U.S. lender’s board as part of the transaction. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were underwriters.

RBS raised $3.46 billion in Citizens’ initial public offering, one of the 2014’s biggest, selling about 25 percent of the consumer and business bank. Cutting its holding further enables the Edinburgh-based lender to boost capital as the U.K. government seeks to return RBS to full private ownership.

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