By Reuters -
Britain's finance ministry said it had now raised more than 10 billion pounds ($15.6 billion) through the sale of more than half its shares in Lloyds Banking Group (LONDON:LLOY), which was bailed out during the 2007-9 financial crisis.
The Treasury said on Tuesday that it had reduced its stake by a further 1 percentage point to 19.93 percent, days after a surprise election triumph for the Conservative party sent the bank's shares soaring to multi-year highs.
Lloyds was rescued at a cost of 20 billion pounds to taxpayers, leaving the government holding a 41 percent stake. It began selling the shares to institutional investors such as pension funds and insurers in September 2013.
Finance Minister George Osborne has said the government plans to sell at least 9 billion pounds worth of the shares in the next year, including a sale at a discount to private retail investors.
"These sales have only been made possible by our long term economic plan, and we are determined to build on this success
, and to continue to return Lloyds to the private sector and reduce our national debt," he said.
The latest sale was through a "pre-arranged trading plan", which UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the body that manages the government's stakes in bailed-out banks, had appointed U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) to undertake.