AMSTERDAM, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The Dutch government intends to reduce its stake in lender ABN Amro to approximately 30% through a trading plan, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Dutch state currently holds 40.5% of ABN Amro's shares.
ABN Amro, one of three dominant banks in the Netherlands, was nationalized during the 2008 financial crisis, and was re-privatized in 2015.
The state held a majority of ABN Amro shares for years, but has been winding down its stake since early last year.
This fits a wider pattern in Europe, where governments have been selling their crisis-era stakes in banks, capitalising on a rebound in share prices and relatively benign conditions for lenders.
Earlier this month, Greece completed its re-privatisation of banks after selling a 10% stake in National Bank. Germany last month reduced its stake in Commerzbank.
British bank Barclays has been appointed to effect a "measured and orderly sell down" of the ABN shares with an undisclosed minimum price per share, the manager of the Dutch state's financial interests NLFI said.
The sale will start in the coming days and will terminate when the maximum number of shares has been sold, it added.
ABN Amro shares closed at 15.83 euros on Monday, up around 15% since the start of the year, but still below their 17.75 euros introduction price in November 2015.
Reporting by Bart Meijer, additional reporting by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes Editing by Bernadette Baum and David Evans
Source: Reuters