The decision rattled investors, sending shares in Britain’s fourth-largest bank down 6 per cent on Monday to 620p, wiping more than £3 billion off its market value. While NatWest confirmed it would proceed with a £750 million buyback, it said no further buybacks would take place until at least its interim results in the summer of 2027. Analysts had previously expected between £2.7 billion and £2.8 billion in buybacks over that period.
The acquisition of Evelyn Partners from private equity firms Permira and Warburg Pincus, combined with NatWest’s existing Coutts business, will create the UK’s largest private banking and wealth management group. The enlarged operation will oversee £127 billion in assets under management and administration.
NatWest said it expects to generate annual run-rate synergies of around £100 million, raising the prospect of job losses. The Evelyn Partners brand will be retained initially, while responsibility for the finances of roughly 150,000 affluent UK families will transfer to NatWest.
Edinburgh-based NatWest beat rival bidders including Barclays and Royal Bank of Canada to secure the deal, as UK lenders increasingly pivot towards fee-based businesses such as wealth management to cushion the expected fall in interest income as central bank rates decline.
Chief executive Paul Thwaite said the acquisition would allow NatWest to support customers with a broader range of savings and investment services, while also helping to drive economic growth.
The deal marks NatWest’s largest corporate acquisition since the disastrous joint takeover of ABN Amro in 2008, which ultimately led to a £45.5 billion taxpayer bailout. The bank was fully returned to private ownership in May last year.
Evelyn Partners, which employs about 2,400 people, was formed in 2020 through the merger of Tilney and Smith & Williamson. It has been led since 2023 by Paul Geddes, a former Royal Bank of Scotland executive. Permira has owned the business since 2014, backing its expansion into a wealth manager overseeing £63 billion in client assets.
NatWest said the transaction would be funded from existing resources and is expected to reduce its core equity tier 1 capital ratio by around 130 basis points.
While analysts acknowledged the strategic logic of expanding in wealth management, some expressed caution over the price paid and the reliance on delivering synergies to justify the deal. NatWest is due to report its full-year results on Friday.
