LONDON-- Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) will give an update on
the sale of 632 of the U.K. bank's branches in the next couple of
weeks, The Mail On Sunday reports.
The bank needs to decide by the end of the month on whether to
spin off the branches in a separate listing in order to hit the
deadline to sell them off by the end of next year, the newspaper
reports.
The branch sale was demanded by the European Union for
competition reasons after Lloyds was bailed out by taxpayers to
prevent its collapse.
Earlier this month, NBNK Investments PLC (NBNK.LN) said that
talks with Lloyds about its renewed offer to buy the branches have
been encouraging after outlining its plans to the U.K.'s Financial
Services Authority, which has given its tentative backing.
NBNK, which is an investment vehicle set up by financial-sector
veterans to create a new retail bank challenger to the U.K.'s four
main lenders, is competing against the U.K.'s Co-operative Group to
acquire the branches.
The Co-op's exclusive talks with Lloyds ended recently, allowing
NBNK to join the fray.
Newspaper website: www.dailymail.co.uk
-Write to Simon Zekaria at simon.zekaria@dowjones.com
