Government completes sale of Lloyds with £894m profit

The government acquired a 43% shareholding in Lloyds in 2009 following a £20.3bn intervention in the struggling bank. The sale returned £21.2bn to the taxpayer and earned £894m on top of the initial investment, including £400m in dividends, the government said. Lloyds banking group was bailed out by the UK Financial Investment unit of the Treasury during the financial crisis. The government aimed to turn a profit for taxpayers on the sale of the shareholding. Shares were sold through accelerated bookbuilds (ABBs) in September 2013 and March 2014, which involved selling a large bloc...