Government sells off further Lloyds shares
23/06/2015
The Government has sold more Lloyds shares to investors, taking its stake to below 17%.
During the 2008 financial crisis, the government paid £22.5 billion of tax payers money to own a 41% stake in the bank. In 2013, they started to sell shares to help return money to the tax payer. So far, £11.5 billion has been returned.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the firm responsible for handling the government's stakes in the privatised bank, has been gradually selling down the Treasury's stake in Lloyds. Investment bank Morgan Stanley handled the share sales, which brought the governments stake in the bank down to under 17%.
In a statement, Lloyds banking group has said:
"Today's announcement shows the further progress made in returning Lloyds Banking Group to full private ownership and enabling the taxpayer to get their money back."
UKFI had a “trading plan” under which government-owned shares will be sold to big institutional investors. This was due to end at the end of June but has now been extended to 31st December. This is because the Treasury believe an extra six months with the plan would help Chancellor George Osborne's pledge to sell a further £9bn of Lloyds shares in 2015-16.
Before the general election, Mr Osborne announced that a shares would also be made available to the public, possibly this year.
Need financial advice?
If you have any personal finance questions related to this news article, then please contact our financial advisers. You can get in touch by asking a question online, calling us on 0800 092 1245, or by arranging a visit.
Share this..
Related stories
Why is the UK economy so complicated?
It seems each day we see a different report and a different opinion on the UK economy as a whole and the various subsectors of the business arena. Even though headline figures may be indicating a potential recovery in the overall UK economy it seems that many areas underneath the surface are still struggling and will struggle for some time to come. Why is the UK economy so complicated?
Rally in sterling comes to an end
As news that UK inflation had increased to 2.9% in December hit the markets we saw a rally in the exchange rate with sterling picking up to hit a six-week high. However, Mervyn King placed a break upon the recovery in sterling last night with a suggestion that UK inflation will not push ahead and indeed is expected to fall back in the short to medium term. He also reiterated his concerns about the...
Read MoreNext drops a bombshell on the UK retail sector
While the UK retail sector is at the moment basking in glory with signs of an upturn, the retail giant Next has somewhat spoiled the party with an indication that the improvement in retail sales in the first six months of this year may not follow through into the latter part of 2009. The company expects sales to drop by between 3.5% and 6.5% in the second half of 2009 which has caught the market s...
Read MoreThe real cost of inflation
When inflation moved into negative territory earlier this year there were cries of joy from many areas of the UK population who had seen the cost of living rising year after year. However, there are two sides to the inflation story with negative inflation putting pressure on product and service prices and often instigating significant cost-cutting programmes. This can lead to reduced disposable in...
Read MoreDid the UK public understand the financial sector before the crisis?
While the UK banking sector and financial sector as a whole has been public enemy number one for some time, blamed by many for the collapse of the UK economy, do the UK public really understand exactly what the sector does?
The vast majority of UK population only see the tip of the iceberg with regards to this the financial sector and the headlines which seem to indicate that millio...