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City grandee Lord Levene has launched a broadside against state-backed Lloyds for selling 632 branches to the Co-op in a cut-price deal. The peer, whose dreams of establishing a bonus free bank have been left in tatters, described the decision as ‘extraordinary’ and a bad deal for British taxpayers. He suggested that the bidding process may have been biased in Co-op’s favour due to a pledge from the Coalition to promote mutuals and co-operatives....Read more here: Lloyds Banking Group under fire for 'bad Co-op deal'
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As the Co-op takes over 632 Lloyds TSB and Cheltenham & Gloucester branches, we look at what it means for the 4.8m customers involved...........Read more here
Negotiations to sell 632 Lloyds branches to the Co-op have hit the rocks, as first reported in the Daily Mail in December. The state-backed lender is ratcheting up plans to float the branches on the stockmarket amid growing fears that the transaction – codenamed Project Verde - will fall through. This would mark a humiliating blow to both Lloyds and the Co-op, which agreed inital terms of a £800million sale last year.
The two firms had hoped to seal the agreement by the end of March. But it is thought Lloyds has already sounded out alternative buyers. Its most likely back-up plan remains a flotation, given the time pressure. Lloyds, which was forced to sell the branches as a condition of receiving state aid, has until the end of the year to offload them. Sources say the deal with the Co-op remains its ‘Plan A’.....Read more here
The Government is facing fresh allegations of political interference in the failed deal to sell 631 Lloyds Bank branches to the Co-op.
The Telegraph can reveal that Lord Levene, the chairman of the failed NBNK bid for the bank branches known as “Verde”, has written to the Chancellor and alleges that he has been told that political pressure did play a part in the process of the deal. Lord Forsyth, the former Scottish Secretary and a member of the NBNK board, has also spoken publicly for the first time – saying that trying to do the deal with the Co-op was inexplicable as the NBNK offer would have meant more money up front for the taxpayer. The senior Conservative said that he had been “certainly told” there was political pressure applied during the process of the deal.....Read more here