It was part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and staffed by civil servants, many of whom were corporate finance professionals with private sector experience.
It advised the government on drafting parts of the Postal Services Act 2011 and worked on the privatisation of Royal Mail and the possible mutualisation of Post Office Ltd.
[2] The Shareholder Executive was involved in the government's nationalisation of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley at the start of the banking crisis in 2008.
In 2011, the Government Property Unit was moved from the Shareholder Executive to the Cabinet Office as part of the new Efficiency and Reform Group.
The body's first chief executive was Richard Gillingwater,[2] who moved to the chair role in September 2006 and was replaced by Mark Bryant.