Britain cuts Lloyds Banking Group stake to below 20 percent

Britain has reduced its stake in Lloyds Banking Group by 1 percentage point to below 20 percent, days after a surprise election triumph for the Conservative party sent the bank's shares soaring to multi-year highs. In a stock market disclosure, Britain's finance ministry said its stake in the bank had fallen to 19.93 percent. The government has now sold more than half its stake in the bank, which was rescued at a cost of 20.5 billion pounds ($32 billion) to taxpayers during the 2007-9 financial