The U.K. government sold about 6 percent in its first sale of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) (LON:LLOY) shares, generating £3.2 billion.
The long-awaited share sale scheme would facilitate claw-back of the public funds used to rescue Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) (LON:LLOY) during the financial crisis five years ago.
UKFI Oversee The Stake
UK Financial Investments Ltd oversees the government stake. In a statement issued today, the London-based body indicated that it sold 4.28 billion shares for 3.2 billion pounds. The shares were priced at 75 pence, a 3.1 percent discount to yesterday’s closing price. However, the price is higher than the 73.6 pence the U.K
The London-based body confirmed that no further sale of the taxpayer’s remaining 32.7 percent stake would be made for a further 90 days. In the future sales, the public are expected to be given an opportunity to buy Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) (LON:LLOY) stock.
Lloyds Stock Jumped About 58 Percent This Year
Chancellor George Osborne in his emailed statement indicated: “Five years ago, the previous government used taxpayers’ money to bail out the banks and I’ve been absolutely determined to get that money back for taxpayers so we can pay down debts”.
However, he has indicated that Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (NYSE:RBS) (LON:RBS), which received a 45.5 billion-pound rescue, is still constrained by too many poor assets to be sold.
Sale 3 Times Oversubscribed
Currently, the share scheme is not open to the general public and is offered only to the institutional investors. Based on institutional investors’ indication of number and price of shares that they want to subscribe to, the government will examine their offers, before deciding on a price and dividing up the shares. Finally, the government would return the revenue to the U.K. taxpayers.
Gavin Finch and Ruth David of Bloomberg cited that people familiar with the development note the shares were offered to investors in a price range of 75 pence to 76 pence. The biggest block of buyers was U.K.-based, with an overall majority chipped in by Britain and the U.S. The sale had seen about 3 times oversubscription.
Last week, the Treasury announced that the Royal Mail will be partially privatized within a few weeks.
Recently, it has also been reported that Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) will launch a £5.8 billion rights issue soon to help meet a regulatory demand to plug a hole in its balance sheet.
