The Co-operative Group, one of the largest financial firms in the UK is very near to close the acquisition deal of 630 branches of Lloyds Banking Group for a discounted price, which was previously tagged £1.5bn.
Although, the deal will be executed at a hefty discount, Lloyds would receive up to £1bn additional payments from the mutual over a period of years if the business performed well, as reported by the Financial Times.
The partial government owned bank is accumulating capital to pay back £21bn in state aid, which it had received during the financial crisis of 2008, as well as to comply with EU state aid rules, the bank said.
Upon completion of the deal, it will triple the size of the Co-op’s banking arm and increase its share of UK branches to 10%.