A source told Bloomberg that Macquarie Group Ltd made a bid for the Australian assets of Lloyds Banking Group. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity as the talks were private. Earlier this month, sources told Bloomberg that today was the deadline for the final binding offers for the said assets. The Australian assets, including its lease and loan portfolios, were valued at AUD 9 billion or USD 8.4 billion.
Last week, two people with knowledge about the transaction said Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) had already dropped out of the bidding. Lloyds was selling the assets as part of its strategy to reduce its worldwide operations after receiving a taxpayer bailout five years ago. This month, the UK government also started to sell the 39% stake it holds in Lloyds. This was part of the lender's move towards full privatization.
Macquarie's Sydney-based spokeswoman Lisa Jamieson and Lloyds International Spokeswoman Lynne Machin declined to comment on the said bid.
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