Lloyds Banking Group is close to selling some 630 branches to the Co-operative Group at a significant discount to the original price tag of £1.5bn, reports suggest.
Lloyds, 40% owned by the government, may instead receive £1bn for the branches over a number of years, but only if the business performed well, according to unnamed sources in the Financial Times.
Under European rules outlined following Lloyds’ bailing-out following the financial crisis in 2008, Lloyds is obliged to offload the branches.
The Co-op’s board is due to meet early next week to finalise and approve the deal, reported the FT. If approved, the move would give the Co-op 7% of the British current account market.
