By Max Colchester
LONDON--The U.K. government Wednesday announced that it would
sell a further chunk of shares in Lloyds Banking Group PLC by the
end of June next year.
Morgan Stanley has been mandated by the U.K. government to sell
the shares at above the average price the taxpayers paid to bail
out the bank in 2009. The government currently holds a 25% stake in
the Lloyds.
The number of shares sold under the plan will depend on how the
share price performs between now and the end of June. There is no
definitive target, but Morgan Stanley has been instructed not to
sell more than 15% of the volume of all Lloyds shares traded on the
market.
Based on past figures, this could see around GBP3 billion ($4.72
billion) of stock sold, a move that would take the government's
shareholding in Lloyds down to 20%, according to a person familiar
with the matter.
The government currently owns 17.8 billion ordinary shares in
Lloyds, representing 24.9% of the issued ordinary share capital of
the company.
Tapan Panchal contributed to this article.
Write to Max Colchester at max.colchester@wsj.com
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