28th Jan 2016 11:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK Chancellor George Osborne on Thursday postponed the sale of the government's remaining 9.2% stake in Lloyds Banking Group PLC.
In revealing the delay, Osborne alluded to the volatile start to 2016 for global equities, which has contributed to a slump in the FTSE 100 and the Lloyds share price.
"We'll build a share owning democracy. So British people can buy Lloyds shares but we'll only sell when turbulent markets have calmed down," Osborne tweeted.
The Chancellor had been planning to sell part of the government's remaining stake in the bank to retail investors in Spring 2016. A GBP20.5 billion state rescue amid the global financial crisis of 2008-09 and the bank's disastrous acquisition of HBOS PLC gave the government control of 43% of the lender.
A return to profitability and dividend payments has helped to facilitate the gradual disposal of that stake since September 2013, though previous share sales have been exclusive to institutional investors.
Lloyds shares were down 1.6% at 63.88 pence on Thursday late morning, well below the 73.6 pence level at which the taxpayer breaks even on its stake.
The stock touched its lowest level since July 2013 on Tuesday this week, when it fell to 61.86p.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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