Lloyds Bank share price rises as the government sells its final stake

The government has sold its final stake in bailed-out lender Lloyds Bank, with the exchequer receiving £900m more than its original investment nine years ago.

The Treasury put in £20.3bn to save the ailing bank at the height of the financial crisis.

And this morning Lloyds Bank confirmed the state’s shareholding had been reduced to zero. In total the government has received £21.2bn from the sale of shares and dividends received.

Shares in the group were up 0.8 per cent in early trading.

Read more: Lloyds is set to confirm the government has sold its final stake

Lloyds Bank chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio said the lender “was in a very fragile financial condition” six years ago.

He added: “Thanks to the hard work of everyone at Lloyds, we’ve turned the group around.

But the job is not done. We’re going to continue to use our strong position to help Britain prosper.

Read more: Taxpayer out, Woodford in: Taxpayers set to shed Lloyds stake this week

How have we got here?

(Source: Lloyds Banking Group)

The government took a 43 per cent stake in Lloyds Bank in 2009 in what it called an “£20.3bn intervention”. Large chunks of shares were sold to institutions in after hours trading in September 2013 and March 2014.

Meanwhile, the government drip-fed shares through two trading platforms between December 2014 and June 2016. After a Brexit vote hiatus, the trading plans re-opened in October 2016.