Latest Lloyds sell-off recoups £500m

THE Government has offloaded more shares in Lloyds Banking Group but has yet to offer them to retail investors.

The latest sell-off raised £500m and cut the state’s stake in the lender to below 16pc.

The taxpayer acquired a 43pc holding in the £20.5bn bailout in the jaws of the financial crisis.

Most of it has been sold, banking a profit for the public purse, in several instalments.

George Osborne yesterday said the total raised so far has hit £12.5bn, adding: ‘I am determined to build on this success, and to continue to return Lloyds to the private sector and reduce our national debt.’

But the Chancellor has yet to make good his promise to have a retail offering of the shares.

At his Mansion House speech last month he said the Government would offer ordinary shareholders the chance to buy state shares within the next 12 months.

He has appointed Goldman Sachs to work on selling the shares back to the public.

But the decision was criticised at the time, because the Wall Street giant was involved with the botched Royal Mail privatisation that left taxpayers with multi-billion-pound losses.

The state-held 15.9pc stake in Lloyds is currently worth £9.9bn.

Lloyds shares, up 14pc in the last 12 months, slipped 0.65p to 86.21p.