UK to launch Lloyds retail share sale in next 12 months

Britain said it will launch a sale of shares in Lloyds to private retail investors in the next 12 months and has extended a facility enabling it to sell more shares in the bank to financial institutions. The sale is expected to be the biggest privatisation since the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher's government sold 3.9 billion pounds of shares in British Telecom and 5.6 billion pounds worth of British Gas shares. As well as raising money for Britain's finance ministry, those sales aimed t