Orthodox Osborne plays safe on £17bn Lloyds privatisation

The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer this week signalled the start of preparations for a £5bn or larger institutional placement of Lloyds Banking Group shares which could come later this year or early in 2014. A vanilla deal that takes the government to within one shot of disposing of its 39% stake, which could be worth £17bn, is possible at the breakeven price, say ECM bankers.