Lloyds stake sale raises £4.2bn

The government has sold a second block of its shares in Lloyds Banking Group overnight raising £4.2bn.

Lloyds shares fell almost 5% on Wednesday, falling to below 75.5p, the price at which the 7.8% block was sold.

The sale cuts the government's holding in the bank to 24.9%, down from an original 39% .

The price remains above the average 73.6p a share the government paid to rescue the bank in the autumn of 2008.

The sale price is only 0.5p a share more than the price achieved in September when it sold a 6% stake raising £3.2bn.

Profits

The chancellor said the sale was "good value" for the taxpayer, and the money would be used to cut the national debt.

"It is another step in repairing the banks, in reducing our national debt and in getting the taxpayer's money back," George Osborne said.

Last month, Lloyds reported profits of £415m for 2013 against losses of £606m the year before - its first bottom-line profit since 2010.

The government originally spent about £66bn in bailing out Lloyds and RBS in the 2008 financial crisis.

UKFI is expected to try to sell off all the remaining shares it holds in Lloyds before the general election in 2015.