It's alive! Orders flood in as UK unleashes multi-billion Lloyds sell-off

A blistering response greeted the long-awaited launch of the UK government's privatisation of Lloyds on Monday night, as at least two orders of more than £1bn each swamped the book for the deal within just one hour of launch after the Monday market close. At the 77.36p closing price, the sale of 4.3bn shares would raise some £3.3bn, but such was the strength of demand that bankers away from the sale were speculating that it might easily be increased overnight.