Lloyds Banking Group is to gain £520m from the sale of 20 per cent of its stake in St James's Place.
The company announced this morning (12 March) that 101,703,070 shares had been placed at a price of £5.10 per share.
The decision, which was announced on 11 March, to sell the stake was due to a desire by Lloyds to "simplify the Group and focus on core customer franchise".
The sale is expected to be completed on Friday 15 March.
Once the sale is completed, this means Lloyds will hold 185, 554, 264 shares which represents a 37 per cent stake in St James's Place.
Lloyds will continue to have a representation on the St James's Place board and has agreed to not get rid of any further stake for another year.
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It said: "As a result of the placing, the Group will realise a gain on the sale of approximately £400m including the effect of holding the Group's residual stake at fair value.
"As a result of the reduction in its shareholding, the Group will no longer consolidate St James's Place results in its accounts and expects to account for the company as an associate, reflecting the Group's share of St James's Place profit within its income statement.
"The statutory profit after tax but before minority interest attributable to St James's Place in the Group's accounts for the year end 31 December 2012 was £76m."

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