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UKFI today announces that it intends to sell part of Her Majesty’s Treasury’s (“HMT”) shareholding in Lloyds Banking Group plc (the “Company”) over the next six months through a pre-arranged trading plan that will be managed by Morgan Stanley & Co. International plc (“Morgan Stanley”).
Under the trading plan, Morgan Stanley will have full discretion to effect a measured and orderly sell down of shares in the Company on behalf of HMT.
Following the publication of the Bank of England stress tests yesterday, the trading plan has been entered into today; however, it is possible that sales may not commence until the New Year. The trading plan will terminate no later than 30 June 2015. HMT has instructed Morgan Stanley that up to but no more than 15% of the aggregate total trading volume in the Company is to be sold over the duration of the trading plan. The number of shares sold under the trading plan will depend on market conditions, among other factors. As with all disposals, delivering value for money for the taxpayer is a key consideration and shares will not be sold below the average price per share that the previous government paid for them.
HMT currently owns 17.8 billion ordinary shares in the Company, which represents 24.9% ofthe issued ordinary share capital of the Company.
J.P. Morgan Cazenove is acting as Privatisation Strategy Adviser to UKFI. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is acting as Legal Counsel to UKFI in respect of English and US law.
