If / When the UK Government bail out RBS (Royal bank of Scotland) do my shares become worthless?
It is much dependant upon the type of bail out that the government proposes. They may decide to buy only 25%-50% of shares thus to increase the liquidity(cash flow) in RBS. If this was the case it is unlikely that they will not be buying your shares, they are simply increasing the number of publicly available shares of the organisation. Thus, if they purchase 50%, your stock will decrease in value by the same amount, because your stocks will represent 50% less ownership of the company. The second scenario is that the government will propose complete government ownership of RBS. Thus, your shares will be purchased at market value, unless you are a major shareholder you will have no say in this matter. The best situation for you is that it is not a complete bail out, this way you can keep hold of your shares until there is a bigger market value of RBS.
