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April 21, 2008
RBS confirms rights issue, will raise £10bn
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RBS forced to sell excellent businesses to fund second rate bank to feed Goodwins ego - and he will remain in place having destroyed shareholder value once again - why he has the reputation he has I will never know - after all ANYONE could have run Nat West better than Nat West !!
aristotle macgrew, Pitenweem, KIngdom of Fife
Are the RBS board economically illiterate - or just stupid?
They recently paid an increased divident to their shareholder - now they want shareholder to give it back (with a lot more besides!).
Does it not enter their tiny minds that if they had not given with one hand and grabbed with the other, then 40% if the dividends would not have been lost to Gordon in tax? Or is it simply another lot of Scots supporting their leader?
Mike Bibby, St Albans, England - not EU
This is bad news for the small private shareholder. Forced to choose between stumping up very large amounts of cash to take up the rights, or shunning the rights and seeing their holdings diluted/devalued by a further 30-50% - many will today be selling their share in the market. So delivering RBS yet further into the hands of institutions and hedge funds.
As Margaret Thatcher recognised, individual shareholders are to be welcomed for the stability they bring. Banks have traditionally been regarded as relatively safe for such investors - eg as part of retirement planning. But not after the Rock debacle and the Government's tax changes. It's no wonder this country is going to the hedge funds!
Frank, London, UK
Whoah, The headline is intentionally misleading, even in the article it says RBS is "considering" a rights issue, not "confirming a rights issue". RBS is actually considering a large range of options where a rights issue is one of them, strange how that the press always picks/focuses on the worst one.
R, London,
Sir Fred Goodwin is past his sell by date. He challenged Barclays bid & overbid completely, & has consistently said there will be no rights issue.
Is that not a serious lack of judgement?
I bet he got a fantastic bonus for the acquisition & if he did ,he & all the management should pay it back to shareholders.
We all know though how greedy bankers will stick together as if nothing has happened.
I assure you it has. many of us small shareholders have lost out.
Quit now!
Clive Kitchener, Pulborough, Sussex
"It is believed that the company has been sold to a consortium led by the investment firm Babcock & Brown and backed by Deutsche Bank."
Shameful... RBS couldn't even show a little patriotism by trying to do a UK or Scottish deal...
Scamp, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Could't agree more with you Stan. The essential core banking business has suffered at the expense of padding the wallets of a few top dogs. Next step will be shifting all processing to India with a consequent lack of customer service. Over the past fe years the RBS has got rid of virtually of its experienced personnel and replaced them with schooleavers who know nothing about banking or customers.
roger mustoe, fareham, england
Is this (RBS plc) not just another example as Warren Buffett so aptly describes "Monkeys running an excellent business franchise destroying shareholder value simply by diluting that value in the pursuit of over priced or lesser quality acquisitions.†The shareholder value of the excellent Natwest, RBS, Direct line & Churchill Insurance franchises has consistently been raped to fund value destroying acquisitions while the intuitional investors just sit there backing the monkeys at their monkey business!!! Don’t blame the credit crunch for this right issue, it is just in keeping with form. The issuing of lowly rated RBS shares for no shareholder value has been a consistent theme for years!
Stan Stairs, Inverness, Highland