Court of Session approves creation of 'super bank'

Jan 13 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

THE formation of a UK "super bank" was rubber-stamped yesterday with a court giving its approval for Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS.

The Court of Session in Edinburgh gave approved the deal after shareholders of the two banks voted before Christmas in favour of the tie-up.

Meanwhile, both banks confirmed that taxpayers are set to own almost half of the new bank created from the takeover.

Yesterday, judge Lord Glennie said he was prepared to grant the orders approving the scheme.

The new enlarged Lloyds Banking Group should begin trading on the London Stock Exchange from next Monday. The takeover, brokered as HBOS became increasingly vulnerable in last autumn’s financial crisis, will be one of the sector’s biggest ever deals.

Last week HBOS pension trustees, in light of the “potential repercussions” of any delay to the deal or the fundraising planned under the Government’s part-nationalisation scheme, dropped legal moves to delay the takeover.