Lloyds Banking Group has sold 85 of its branches in two sale-and-leaseback deals.
It sold 44 branches, known as the Frankel Portfolio, to Aprirose for £39.5m and has agreed to sell another 41 branches in a separate deal.
Th deals come days after the government reduced its stake in Lloyds Bank, which it bailed out in 2009 for £20bn, to less than 6%. It plans to return it to full private ownership by the spring.
In November, Lloyds announced plans to close 49 branches as part of chief executive António Horta-Osório’s three-year cost-cutting programme. In total, 400 branches will be closed because of it.
The branches in the Frankel Portfolio operate under the Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank brands and are located across the UK.
Gary Jones, chief operating officer at Aprirose, said: “The transaction is another example of Aprirose being able to find a good investment opportunity and being able to move quickly to close the deal.
“This investment adds further diversity to our £1bn property portfolio.”
CBRE advised Lloyds Banking Group; Springer Nicolas advised Aprirose.
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