National Grid sells 60% stake in NGG, NatWest to buy back shares from UK government

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open a mere 7.5 points higher ahead of the bell on Monday after closing out the previous session just 0.21% firmer at 7,483.35.

Stocks to watch

Utilities company National Grid has agreed to sell a 60% equity interest in its UK gas transmission and metering business to a consortium of long-term infrastructure investors.

National Grid said on Monday that will receive approximately £2.2bn in cash for its NGG unit from a consortium made up of Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. National Grid will also receive approximately £2.0bn from additional debt financing at completion.

Following the transaction, National Grid will retain a 40% minority equity interest in NGG via a new holding company called GasT TopCo but stated it had also entered into an option agreement with the consortium for the potential sale of the remaining 40%.

NatWest Group has revealed that it will buy back a 4.91% stake in the bank from the UK government for £1.2bn, taking the British taxpayers' holding to below 50% for the first time since the financial crash of 2008.

The bank said it would cancel the shares once repurchased. NatWest was bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £45.0bn as the global financial system faced meltdown after predatory lending and excessive risk-taking by the sector.

Newspaper round-up

Grant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to "ratchet up the fight" after a weekend of protests. The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage. - Guardian

Major investors have launched a campaign calling for Sainsbury's to help tackle the cost of living crisis by becoming the first supermarket group to pay all its workers the "real living wage" of £9.90 an hour. Legal & General Investment Management, Nest, which is Britain's largest workplace pension scheme, and several MPs have formed a coalition to push for the change after reports that increasing numbers of supermarket workers are having to turn to food banks to feed themselves and their families. - Guardian

The UK's £23.0bn new flagship nuclear power plant is at risk of becoming more expensive and being plagued by delays as its developer EDF blamed challenges including the conflict in Ukraine. EDF is carrying out a "new comprehensive review" of the costs and timeframes of Hinkley Point C, which it is building in Somerset with updates expected in the summer. - Telegraph

JP Morgan threw down the gauntlet to the UK retail banking industry by launching an instant-access savings account paying over 50% more interest than existing accounts. The American bank said that customers of Chase, its new British app-based operation, would get a 1.5% return on up to £250,000, but savers must also sign up to its current account. - The Times

The pension funds and investments of more than a million people are to be disinvested from the tobacco industry after Scottish Widows announced it would sell shares and bonds worth £1.0bn in cigarette companies. It is screening out any investment in firms where tobacco accounts for more than 10% of sales, so it will divest itself of firms including British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks put on a mixed performance on Friday after the European Union struck a deal with the US in an effort to lower its Russian energy usage.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.44% at 34,861.24, while the S&P 500 was 0.51% firmer at 4,543.06 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.16% weaker at 14,169.03.