Lloyds looks at loan to speed up branch sales

Lloyds Banking Group is looking to raise £20 billion in order to hasten the European Commission-ordered sale of 600 of its branches before November 2013.

The banking giant was told to offload the branches by the EC in 2009, and given the 2013 deadline. The order was made following the Lloyds takeover of HBOS during the very worst of the financial crisis in September 2008.

It has been reported that the new Lloyds chief executive, Antonio Horta-Osorio, intends to significantly speed up the sale, which has come to be known as Project Verde, and is looking at all means of doing so. Among the 600 branches up for sale is the 185-strong network of Lloyds TSB Scotland.

It has been estimated that the value of the sale of branches could generate as much as £3 billion, with potential buyers thought to include Virgin Money and NBNK. However, the interest of these and other relatively small players will only exist if Lloyds can make the unit more attractive by propping up the shortfall in deposits over loans - an estimated funding gap of £20bn - £30bn.

In order to raise the funds, it is thought that Lloyds has been negotiating with investment banks including Citigroup and JP Morgan to help facilitate the sale. A loan from one of the investment banks could help boost their chance of advising on the sale. Investment banking advisers will be chosen today or tomorrow.

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