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Government reduces stake in Lloyds to less than 7%

Paloma Kubiak
Written By:
Paloma Kubiak
Posted:
Updated:
13/12/2016

The government has sold another chunk of Lloyds Banking Group shares, reducing its remaining holding to less than 7%.

HM Treasury has now recovered more than £17.5bn of the £20.3bn taxpayers injected into Lloyds during the financial crisis, via its trading plan.

The update comes just a couple of months after the Treasury announced it had withdrawn the planned retail sale of its final 9.1% stake, blaming ongoing market volatility – much to the disappointment of investors and industry.

A petition was launched calling for the general public to participate when the government sells its Lloyds stake but the government said the sale would be conducted via a trading plan over the next year, gradually selling shares in the market in a bid to get back all taxpayers’ money.

Economic secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby said: “Selling our shares in Lloyds Banking Group and making sure that we get back all the cash taxpayers injected into it during the financial crisis is a key government priority. So I am pleased that we have continued to reduce our stake in Lloyds, and have now recovered over £17.5 billion for the taxpayer.”