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Lloyds Banking Group branch sale plan rocked as bidders disappear
Originally posted by 5corpio
The proposed £2.5bn sale of 632 Lloyds Banking Group branches has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that only two formal bids have been filed.
The lack of bidders has led advisers to consider plans to demerge the business and float what would become the UK's seventh largest bank.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that only two bidders – NBNK and Co-operative Financial Services – filed formal bids ahead of the first deadline for the Project Verde assets. Of those, the Co-op's bid was described by one source as "lacklustre", while another source questioned its viability following the announced exit on Friday of Co-op's chief executive Neville Richardson.
As a result, bankers at Citigroup and JP Morgan are now actively assessing plans to demerge Verde into a separate listed entity, handing shareholders equity in a "rump bank".
Lloyds is being forced to sell the assets – which comprise the TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester brands, among others – as part of a European competition ruling following Lloyds TSB's merger with HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. UK taxpayers own a 41pc stake in Lloyds, through UK Financial Investments, as a result of subsequent
Read more on this story: Lloyds Banking Group branch sale plan rocked as bidders disappear - Telegraph
The lack of bidders has led advisers to consider plans to demerge the business and float what would become the UK's seventh largest bank.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that only two bidders – NBNK and Co-operative Financial Services – filed formal bids ahead of the first deadline for the Project Verde assets. Of those, the Co-op's bid was described by one source as "lacklustre", while another source questioned its viability following the announced exit on Friday of Co-op's chief executive Neville Richardson.
As a result, bankers at Citigroup and JP Morgan are now actively assessing plans to demerge Verde into a separate listed entity, handing shareholders equity in a "rump bank".
Lloyds is being forced to sell the assets – which comprise the TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester brands, among others – as part of a European competition ruling following Lloyds TSB's merger with HBOS at the height of the financial crisis. UK taxpayers own a 41pc stake in Lloyds, through UK Financial Investments, as a result of subsequent
Read more on this story: Lloyds Banking Group branch sale plan rocked as bidders disappear - Telegraph