More than 120,000 investors have registered for the government’s £2bn sell-off of shares in Lloyds Banking Group with Hargreaves Lansdown, the investment firm said.
The figures do not include those who have signed up to the government’s official website which on Monday alone – the day the share sale was announced – reportedly received interest from 62,000 people.
The sale of shares to the public is not expected to take place until next year but was announced by George Osborne at the Conservative party conference. Around £2bn of shares in Lloyds will be priced at a 5% discount to the market price and any investor who holds them for 12 months will be a given a bonus share for every 10 they hold.
“Lloyds has a broad appeal among investors, and shares in the company find their way into accounts ranging from Junior ISAs for children, right through to the drawdown portfolios of pensioners looking for income,” said Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Investors applying for £1,000 of shares or less are being given priority, which suggests that investors seeking larger numbers are at risk of being scaled back.
The government shareholding in Lloyds has been reduced from 43% at the time of the 2008 bailouts to around 12% by selling off shares to big City investors and hedge funds. The stake is expected to be sold entirely by early next year.
