(MENAFN- AFP) Britain will sell more shares in state-rescued Lloyds Banking Group over the next six months as part of its return to the private sector, the government said Wednesday.
UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the state's bank shareholdings, said in a statement that it will seek to cut its LBG stake from the current level of 24.9 percent. The sale will be handled by US bank Morgan Stanley.
UKFI stressed that the shares will not be sold below the average price that the previous government had paid for them, which was 73.6 pence.
The sale could potentially raise more than £3.0 billion ($4.7 billion, 3.8 billion euros) for a 5.0-percent stake in the bank.
Finance minister George Osborne said shares will be gradually sold in the market over time "in an orderly and measured way", and that sales "may commence in (the) coming days".
"I can confirm today that the government is taking the next step in returning Lloyds Banking Group to private ownership," said Osborne.
"The trading plan I'm initiating today is made possible by our long-term economic plan which is delivering a more secure and resilient economy. It is another step in reducing our national debt and in getting taxpayers' money back."
In Wednesday trade, Lloyds shares sank 1.96 percent to close at 75.35 pence on London's FTSE 100 index, which finished 0.07 percent higher at 6,336.48 points.
The government owns almost a quarter of Lloyds after bailing it out with £20 billion of taxpayers' cash at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis.
Britain initially took a 39-percent stake in Lloyds and has so far raised £7.4 billion selling bits of its shareholding. The government currently owns 17.8 billion ordinary shares in Lloyds.
Wednesday's announcement comes one day after Lloyds narrowly passed the Bank of England's stress test, which was designed to show the banking sector's ability to withstand a new economic crisis.<
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