97 per cent of NAB shareholders back Clydesdale sell-off

The news now clears the way for a partial float of the business that has previously been scheduled to take place in London next week.

More than 97 per cent of shareholders voted for the proposal, which will see 75 per cent of Clydesdale handed to NAB shareholders, who will be given shares in the Scottish bank.

The remaining 25 per cent will be sold through an initial public offering (IPO) to institutional investors.

Before Wednesday’s vote NAB chairman Ken Henry said the demerger was “likely to enhance value for shareholders over the long term”, with Clydesdale, which NAB bought in 1987, “repositioned … for a standalone business”.

The IPO is expected to take place on 2 February, with shares set to begin trading on the London Stock Exchange within a week.

“Clydesdale Bank has been a significant factor in NAB shareholder returns not being at the level that we have wanted, nor competitive with our Australian peers,” Henry said. “This demerger and IPO will allow acceleration of NAB’s exit and presents the most certain outcome for NAB shareholders.”

NAB shares closed 3.10 per cent lower at A$26.90 (£13.20) in Sydney on Wednesday.

The Australian lender outlined plans to divest Clydesdale in October as it posted a 19.7 per cent lift in annual net profit to A$6.34bn for the year to 31 August.

“The real strategy has been to clean up some of their issues from the past and refocus the business back on the Australia-New Zealand core franchise,” analyst Omkar Joshi of Watermark Funds Management told AFP.

“The UK business was really the last piece, given they’ve already done a lot of the other things. So the fact that they are demerging it now is positive.”