Lloyds raises £161m from TSB sale
Lloyds Banking Group's stake in TSB has been cut to 50% after its latest sale of shares in the lender raised £161m for the banking giant.
Last night's placing of 11.5% of stock with institutional investors came three months after Lloyds floated TSB on the London stock market.
It was prevented from selling any more shares until 90 days after the float, with the removal of uncertainty caused by the Scottish referendum vote enabling Lloyds to press ahead with its second sale of shares.
The bank must dispose of its holdings in the business by the end of next year, having been forced to offload sites under European rules on state aid.
The float in June raised £455m and saw TSB return to the stock market for the first time since 1995 when it merged with Lloyds.
The revived TSB, which has 4.5 million customers, is now the seventh largest retail banking group in the UK.
Lloyds had previously been preparing to sell the branches to the Co-operative Bank for £750m before the discovery of a £1.5bn hole in the mutual's balance sheet caused the deal to collapse in April 2013.
The placing took place at 280p a share, which was the same price as last night's closing price for TSB shares.
