Treasury weighs £5bn Lloyds share sale 'as soon as September'

The UK government is considering divesting £5bn of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group as early as September this year, according to reports.

The government is mulling whether to sell 5% to 10% of Lloyds to money managers as soon as September, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. This initial transaction would be a test of appetite for a further offering of shares to both institutional and individual investors, said the report. The Treasury would need to sell shares at 61p each in order to break-even on its original investment, according to one interpretation of its 2008 purchase. Today the government appointed JPMorgan Chase to advise on a strategy for returning both Lloyds and RBS to private investors. At t...