Lloyds Banking Group said take-up for its record 13.5 billion pound rights issue totalled over 95 percent, drawing a line under a turbulent few months for Britain’s largest retail lender.
Lloyd’s cash call — the world’s largest to date — is a key plank of a bumper 22.5 billion pound capital raising effort to allow the bank avoid a state-backed insurance scheme for bad debts. A high take-up is the strongest indication yet of shareholder support for the bank’s turnaround efforts.
In a statement on Monday, following the close of the rights issue on Friday morning, the bank said around 95.3 percent of new shares offered were taken up by investors.
Sources close to the situation had said in the run-up to the rights issue’s close that the rump could be “single digit” — allowing it to be placed on the market within 24 hours of the results of the rights issue.
Lloyds, which has an army of 2.8 million small shareholders, has faced anger over mistakes made during the crisis and a decision to buy embattled rival HBOS, but investors voted overwhelmingly last month to back its plan to raise capital.
The rights issue was priced last month at 37p per share, with investors being offered 1.34 shares for every existing share held. That compares with Friday’s close at 56.2 p.
With Reuters
