The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)
Today the Government have successfully completed the sale of a second tranche of shares in Lloyds Banking Group.
The Chancellor received advice from UK Financial Investments Ltd (UKFI) yesterday that it would be appropriate to begin the process to sell a second part of the Government’s shareholding in Lloyds.
Overnight the Government were able to place 7.78% of Lloyds shares with investors at a price of 75.5p. The proceeds from that sale total approximately £4.2 billion.
The Treasury estimates that the second sale has reduced the national debt by £788 million and that in total the programme of sales of Lloyds shares to date has reduced the national debt by just under £1.4 billion.
Future sales will always be subject to value-for-money considerations and market conditions.