Lloyds raises £450m by selling down St James’s Place stake

Taxpayer-backed lender Lloyds Banking Group has raised about £450 million by selling a further stake in wealth manager St James’s Place.

The Bank of Scotland owner said it would book a gain of about £40m on the deal, which will help boost its capital buffers.

Lloyds sold 77 million shares in St James’s Place at 580p each, leaving it with a 21 per cent stake in the firm.

The group sold a 20 per cent stake in the wealth manager in March and had agreed not to reduce its holding further for at least a year, but that lock-up was waived on Wednesday by bookrunner Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

It said today that the lock-up could not be waived again for at least six months.

Lloyds announced yesterday that its core capital ratio should be above the industry benchmark of 9 per cent at the end of this year and higher than 10 per cent by the end of 2014.