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British gov't sells further 1 pct of Lloyds bank

Xinhua, March 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's Chancellor George Osborne Monday announced that the government had sold another 1 percent of Lloyds Banking Group shares for 500 million pounds (755 million U.S. dollars).

Lloyds received 20 billion pounds of government support during the financial crisis, with the government taking a 40 percent stake. The state bailout avoided the bank's collapse.

UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which administered the government's stake, launched a trading plan designed to reduce the publicly-owned stake in Lloyds over a six-month period last December, ending June 30 this year.

The total amount of money raised through the trading plan launched last December is over 1 billion pounds. The government's stake in the bank has reduced to below 23 percent.

All shares sold through the trading plan have been sold above the average price the previous government paid for them, said the Treasury.

"I am delighted that we've raised a further 500 million pounds for the taxpayer through the trading plan I launched in December," said the Osborne.

"These sales are part of our plan to return Lloyds to the private sector and get taxpayers' money back. The proceeds will be used to reduce the national debt," said Osborne. (1 pound = 1.51 U.S. dollars) Endit