UK taxpayer to own nearly half of 'super-bank'
British taxpayers are set to own almost half of the “super-bank” created from Lloyds TSB’s rescue takeover of HBOS, the two banks confirmed today.
The offer of £13bn (€14.65bn) in new shares from the duo to strengthen their finances was all but snubbed by existing investors – leaving the Treasury to buy them up.
This will leave the taxpayer owning around 43.4% of the new Lloyds Banking Group, which is due to gain court approval in Edinburgh today and begin trading next week.
The share offerings by the pair were spurned because the price of the new shares had fallen well below the level at which they are currently trading.
HBOS said just 0.24% of the 7.5 billion shares it offered to raise £8.5bn (€9.5bn) were taken up.
Lloyds TSB saw just 0.5% of its 2.6 billion new shares to raise £4.5bn (€5.1bn) bought by existing investors.
Based on Friday’s closing prices, the British taxpayer is sitting on combined losses of around £3.5bn (€4bn) on its stakes in both companies.
