UK Financial Investments (UKFI) said that the price at which the Placing Shares are sold will be determined by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process. The Placing shares are expected to include 4,282,034,109 shares of the company’s ordinary shares.
Following completion of the proposed transaction, the overall size of HM Treasury’s shareholding in the banking group will be reduced from nearly 38.7% to approximately 32.7%.
The disposal of the shares will enable the British government to recoup some part of £21bn taxpayers’ money, which was infused in Lloyds during the financial crisis of 2008.
A Treasury spokesman said, "We want to get the best value for the taxpayer, maximise support for the economy and restore them to private ownership. The government will only conclude a sale if these objectives are met."
UKFI, which manages the government’s stakes in Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), said it will not divest any more shares in the bank for a period of 90 days.
For the current sale of shares, JP Morgan Cazenove, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint bookrunners, while Lazard is acting as capital markets adviser for the proposed transaction.
In April 2013, Lloyds Banking’s planned sale of 630 bank branches to the Co-operative Group fell apart, following Co-op’s decision to cancel the deal.
Most recently, the bank floated a new bank named TSB, with a network of 630 unsold branch offices, which will focus on offering retail-banking services in the country.
