(LLOY.L) Lloyds Banking Group PLC Buy/Sell

The more I think about the RI, the more it stinks. It's a scam.

The losers are going to be those who are attempting to avoid dilution by injecting more cash at the full rate. In other words, the losers are going to be PIs and those IIs who decide to take up the RI fully.

HMG are getting the RI at a very significant discount of £2.5Bn for nothing. I no longer hold LBG but
if I did, I would be paying 50p for every share held before the ex-rights date assuming I took up the
RI fully. HMG on the other hand are paying just under 29p compared to my 50p.

The institutions underwriting the RI are, I'm sure, hoping that the remaining £7.7Bn of the RI will only be partially taken up. Why? Because they get to pick up the residual shares at 0.50p without the commitment of having to hold an equivalent number of shares at the ex-rights date. Assuming a 1:1 RI, they stand to make a killing even if the ex-rights SP falls to say 60p. Everyone else gets to pay for these concessions given to HMG and the underwriters.

ED and Co must of course be fully aware of all of this but what do they care. They are guaranteed to raise the money they need because of the HMG involvement and the underwriters. They must know that everyone else is on a loser and are ripe to be shafted once again.

For these reasons, I decided a few days ago that I'm out - my holding at the time was in excess of 120K. I fully expect to be able, should I choose, to buy back in again after the dust settles and achieve parity without having to shell out the sort of money (£60K) involved in signing up to the RI.

As a long standing LLOY/LBG shareholder, I am not prepared to be shafted yet again.

Prag