ABN AMRO: Dutch State seeks to reduce its stake from 20.7% to 10.5%
NLFI, the structure holding the Dutch State's stake in ABN AMRO, has announced a new divestment plan designed to reduce this stake from 20.7% to 10.5%. The operation would bring the State below the 15% threshold provided for in the agreement governing its relations with the bank.
NLFI has launched a progressive selling plan for its ABN AMRO securities
NLFI (stichting administratiekantoor beheer financiële instellingen) announced on October 7, 2026, its intention to dispose of certificates representing ABN AMRO shares through a divestment plan, designated in English by the term "trading plan". The announcement was relayed by the bank in a press release published on the same day. NLFI holds the certificates corresponding to the Dutch State's stake in the institution's capital. According to NLFI's explanations relayed by ABN AMRO, this plan aims to reduce the stake from 20.7% to 10.5%. The sale is therefore intended to bring the State's share to a level close to half of its current holding. The press release indicates that at some point during the plan's execution, NLFI's stake could fall below 15% of total issued share capital. The choice of this vehicle contrasts with some of the previous divestitures. Previous reductions in stake since the bank's stock market listing have notably taken the form of accelerated placements with investors, carried out by rapidly building an order book. The announced plan, for its part, is part of a series of successive divestment plans. The detailed terms of the plan are available on NLFI's website, according to the press release. The plan's execution may modify the contractual relationships between NLFI and ABN AMRO depending on the ownership thresholds crossed during the operation.
State's information rights maintained as long as it holds 10% or more
Relations between NLFI and ABN AMRO are governed by a dedicated agreement, the "Relationship Agreement". This document provides that if NLFI's stake falls below 15%, new provisions regarding its information rights must be agreed in good faith between the two parties. Crossing this threshold, which is possible during the plan's execution, therefore automatically triggers a renegotiation. However, the two parties have already established the framework for this change. NLFI and ABN AMRO have agreed that NLFI will retain its current information rights as long as it holds a stake of 10% or more in the bank. Once this stake falls below 10%, the "Relationship Agreement" will terminate. What the figures actually reveal lies in the gap between the plan's objective and this latter threshold. The 10.5% target sits above the 10% mark that triggers the agreement's end. If the plan is carried through to its objective, the State would thus remain bound to ABN AMRO by the "Relationship Agreement" and would retain its current information rights, despite a significantly reduced stake.
A divestment inscribed in the gradual disengagement announced by the State
This plan is the fifth consecutive divestment plan, following reductions in stake achieved through accelerated placements since ABN AMRO's stock market listing in November 2015. The Dutch State had already made clear that it intended to gradually reduce, over time and through NLFI, its stake in the bank.
