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Lloyds drive to sell Lex car-leasing arm
Bill Condie30 Jan 2009
Car-leasing giant Lex is expected to be put on the block by Lloyds Banking Group as it struggles to rebuild its balance sheet.
More than 10% of the cars on British roads are financed by Lex. Reports say the company is sounding out private-equity firms to gauge interest.
Lloyds' car-leasing business was expanded after the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS earlier this month. Lloyds owned Autolease, with 129,000 vehicles, while Lex, the market leader with 251,000 vehicles, was owned by HBOS. Lex has about £2.4 billion of debt.
Eric Daniels, chief executive of the enlarged group that is now 44% owned by the Government, says he is looking at ways of raising cash. With the taxpayer now the largest shareholder, the group is under pressure to offload non-core assets.
As well as Lex, the group's fund management arms Lloyds' Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, HBOS's Insight Investment and the Clerical Medical life assurance business could also be put up for sale.
