A Schroders’ equities fund has bought about a £135m stake in St James’s Place, after Lloyds Banking Group said it planned to reduce its ownership in the wealth manager.
Lloyds said yesterday it had employed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to sell down a roughly 20% stake in St James’s Place, which would raise £520m.
Ex. head of UK equities at Schroders, Richard Buxton, led the purchase of a significant stake in the share sale, worth about £135m, according to a person close to this deal. Schroders’ stake amounts to an approximate 5% holding in St James’s Place
Lloyds inherited a 60% in St James’s Place after it acquired failing lender HBOS in September 2008. St James’s Place’s share price had since increased 136% – as of trading yesterday.
After the close of Monday trading, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which underwrote the deal, priced the stake at £5.10 a share, a discount of 5% on the last traded price. St James’s Place was trading at £5.25 at 11:15 GMT this morning.
