STANDARD Life Aberdeen saw about £300 million wiped from its market worth after Lloyds Banking Group announced it has sold off its stake in the Edinburgh-based investment giant.
Bank of Scotland owner Lloyds said it raised £344m from the sale of its 3.3 per cent stake in the institution, at a price of 352.5p per share. It first announced its intention to offload the holding on Thursday, when it told the City that it had instructed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell its 97,678,570 shares to institutional investors.
Shares in Standard Life Aberdeen fell by 13p, or 3.57% , yesterday following the announcement, closing at 351.1p.
The decision by Lloyds to sell the stake comes amid a continuing dispute between the bank and Standard Life Aberdeen over the £109 billion Scottish Widows asset management mandate.
Lloyds declared in February that it would remove from Standard Life Aberdeen the deal to manage the funds on behalf of Widows, arguing that the Scottish company was now a material competitor to its pensions business following the £11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management last year. Aberdeen Asset Management had held the mandate since 2014.
However, Standard Life Aberdeen is not giving up the mandate without a fight, arguing that Lloyds does not have the right to terminate the contract.
Lloyds said of the sale: “Lloyds Banking Group today announces that it has sold its remaining stake in Standard Life Aberdeen plc, representing approximately 3.3 per cent of the company’s issued ordinary share capital, at a price of 352.5 pence per share raising aggregate gross sale proceeds of £344 million.
“There is no impact on the income statement as the investment has been accounted for at a fair value through other comprehensive income.”
Shares in Lloyds were 1.16% down at 62.9p.
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