Investing.com – Shares in Lloyds Bank slumped nearly 5% on Friday as British finance minister Philip Hammond announced that he will sell off the U.K.’s remaining 9% in the bailed out financial institution directly through the stock market.
The decision undoes his predecessor’s plan to offer the shares in a bulk sale at a lower price.
Hammond plans on unloading the shares directly through the stock market over the next 12 months.
The implication is that the shares, current priced at around 52 pence, will be sold below the average 73.6 pence price tag that the taxpayers paid when the government bought up a 43% stake in the bank in the 2008 financial crisis for £20.3 billion ($25.3 billion).
Hammond explained that the decision was based on expert advice.
“Ongoing market volatility means it is not the right time for a retail offer,” he said, adding that returning Lloyds to the private sector was in the interests of the bank, taxpayers and the country as a whole.
The British Treasury said that, despite the discount to the purchase price, the sale would not result in a loss for the taxpayers because the government had already recouped £16.9 billion ($21.1 billion) from previous sales.
At 10:45AM ET (14:45GMT), shares of Lloyds (LON:LLOY) tumbled 4.64% to 52.44 pence.