Capital raising: Lloyds gets its money, any which way

Bond exchange sees strong take-up; Investors had little choice but to buy rights issue

Lloyds Banking Group is finally catching some breaks. Its £22.5 billion ($37.6 billion) underwritten capital-raising – the largest ever in Europe – saves it from falling even further into UK government ownership and has seen off the risk of the European Commission’s competition authority imposing a complete break-up, as it did on ING. Execution analyst Joseph Dickerson says the EC’s plan for ING “looks to us like a pre-pack bankruptcy expected to be funded by common shareholders via a rights issue”.

Access intelligence that drives action

To unlock this research, enter your email to log in or enquire about access