Lloyds becomes first British bank to emerge completely from state ownership
London — Britain has sold its last remaining stake in Lloyds Banking Group, making the lender the first to re-emerge from British state ownership in a symbolic step for the country’s recovering banking sector. The sale draws a line under one of the largest bailouts from the 2007-09 global financial crisis. This involved Lloyds, Britain’s biggest retail lender, being rescued after an ill-fated government-brokered takeover of rival HBOS. "Six years ago we inherited a business that was in a very fragile financial condition," Lloyds CE Antonio Horta-Osorio, who joined the bank in 2011, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Thanks to the hard work of everyone at Lloyds, we’ve turned the group around." The takeover of HBOS in 2008 caused Lloyds to suffer more than £25bn in losses, with the bail-out leaving the government with a 43% state shareholding. Lloyds said in a statement that the government would make a profit of about £900m, having spent more than £20bn rescuing the bank. Reuters
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