Blackrock Overtakes British Government as Major Shareholder at Lloyds Bank

In the Business section of The Observer in mid-January I read that Blackrock has overtaken the British Government as the major shareholder at Lloyds Bank

The major US investment firm Blackrock has become the biggest shareholder in Lloyds Banking Group usurping the government, which is selling down its stake.

Blackrock, which describes itself as the world's biggest fund manager, with $5.1 trillion of investments, owns the largest stake in the bailed-out bank as the Treasury’s holding has now fallen to 5.95%.

The Treasury makes a disclosure to the stock market every time its stake in Lloyds falls by one percentage point, and an update earlier last month showed its holding falling below 7%.

In a stock market announcement on Monday, the Treasury said it had sold a further 700,O00 shares to push its stake below 6%.