Lloyds TSB is a leading UK-based financial services group, which was created in 1995 following the merger of the TSB Group and the Lloyds Bank Group. Its businesses provide a wide range of banking and financial services in the UK and overseas, principally through branches of the Lloyds TSB Bank and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Cheltenham & Gloucester and Lloyds TSB Scotland. In 2000, Lloyds TSB Group acquired Scottish Widows; this transaction positioned Lloyds TSB Group as one of the leading suppliers of long-term savings and protection products in the UK. During 2003 and 2004, Lloyds TSB Group disposed of a number of its overseas operations, as part of the process of managing its portfolio of businesses to focus on its core markets.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

Worth buying for the divi alone but if they can hold above 570p then almost a clean run to 700p

Yes Dil.

While I dont look back usually, I am looking back just now.

I'll stay out for now, this rally in the market overall can't last.

(famous last words)

Decisions, decisions, do I stay in LLOY or is it time to jump ship?

I think I shall hold a watching brief. Apart from showing strongly overbought, the trend is still upward. I suppose there may be a reaction to this weeks movements but the trend has been upwards since early September.

Yes, I think I'll stick with it but watch it carefully, time enough to get out and back in again for the Feb/Mar divi record date.

Nice to see thoughts appearing for this old bird, .........er horse.

I have an eye on the ex div date as well.

There's plenty of time for a retracement albeit temporary.

Long-term hold with dividend to collect and the ever-present "threat" of take-over activity.

Speaking of which I just saw an item on Bloomberg saying a newspaper reported Lloyds in discussions for disposal of Scottish Widows.

Yes that one's being doing the rounds for a while now. I can't make up my mind whether that would make Lloyds a less attractive target, or more attractive as it will have more cash in the bank (excuse the pun).

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters)

AXA, Swiss Re eye Scottish Widows bid - newspaper


European insurers AXA and Swiss Re have made a joint 8 billion pound bid for Scottish Widows, the insurance arm of Britain's Lloyds TSB Plc, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

France's AXA would take control of most of Scottish Widows, including its fund management arm, while Swiss Re would acquire the group's closed life assurance funds under the break-up bid, the newspaper said without citing sources.

The proposal was put to the Lloyds TSB board last week but was rejected by the UK bank, the report said. The insurers were willing to come back with a higher bid, it added.

Scottish Widows has been the subject of takeover speculation for some months. Lloyds TSB Chairman Victor Blank suggested in August that a sale was unlikely and said Scottish Widows was "an important part of the group".

Swiss Re said on Friday it had agreed to buy the GE Life business of U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co. for 465 million pounds.

Lloyds, Swiss Re and Axa were not immediately available to comment.

LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters)

Lloyds declines comment on Scottish Widows bid talk


UK bank Lloyds TSB Plc declined to comment on Sunday on a report European insurers AXA and Swiss Re had made a joint 8 billion pound bid for its insurance arm.

"We don't comment on market speculation," a Lloyds spokeswoman said following a Sunday Telegraph report the two insurers were eyeing its Scottish Widows unit.

France's AXA would take control of most of Scottish Widows, including its fund management arm, while Swiss Re would acquire the group's closed life assurance funds under the break-up bid, the newspaper said without citing sources.

The proposal was put to the Lloyds TSB board last week but was rejected by the UK bank, the report said. The insurers were willing to come back with a higher bid, it added.

One source familiar with the situation downplayed the newspaper report, but declined to say if a proposal had been put to the board or not.

The Financial Times said in its Saturday edition Lloyds had received several expressions of interest from financial groups keen on buying life funds controlled by Scottish Widows.

Talks were in a preliminary stage, the newspaper said without citing sources.

Scottish Widows has been the subject of takeover speculation for some months. Lloyds TSB Chairman Victor Blank suggested in August that a sale was unlikely and said Scottish Widows was "an important part of the group".

Swiss Re said on Friday it had agreed to buy the GE Life business of U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co. for 465 million pounds.

Swiss Re and Axa were not immediately available to comment.

Thank you dai oldenrich

That explains why Lloyds was so strong last week.

I think without Scoittish Windows, Lloyds would be a much leaner target and easily swallowed.

Just a thought

Agreed - and probably easier to get past the competition authorities, depending on who made the bid.

YES agree that they would be a target for takeover without S/WIDOWS/but believe that in the last they year got from s/widows apro one billion pounds payback////so I DON,T THINK/ THAT THEY WILL SELL IN HURRY/

Anything can be bought at the right price, although I respect your comments bl.

It will be interesting to see what happens this week, as I am sure it will be settled by the end of it one way or the other.

The Times -October 16, 2006

Resolution jostles with European suitors - By Amanda Andrews


RESOLUTION, the closed life fund consolidator, declared yesterday that it would pursue Lloyds TSBs life assurance business if it were put up for sale, as it emerged that AXA and Swiss Re have made an approach to break up Scottish Widows.

Paul Thompson, chief executive of Resolution, the largest specialist manager of closed UK life funds, told The Times yesterday that he would consider making a bid for Scottish Widows in its entirety if it were put on the auction block. However, he said that he was not currently planning an offer and that there was likely to be great interest in the division if Lloyds TSB decided to sell it.

It is believed that the European insurers AXA and Swiss Re have made a break-up proposal, in which AXA, of France, would take control of most of Scottish Widows, including its fund management arm, while Swiss Re would buy its closed life assurance funds.

The approach is understood to have been rejected at an early stage by Lloyds TSB. Reports valued the bid at 8 billion.

Sir Victor Blank, chairman of Lloyds TSB, and Eric Daniels, chief executive, are said to be pleased that Scottish Widows is finally performing well. However, the possibility of a sale of the division raises questions over Lloyds TSBs strategy. Much of the City believes that the group faces a choice between expansion through a significant European acquisition or likely takeover by a large US player in the industry.

The insurance industry itself has entered a phase of consolidation, with Swiss Re at the forefront of activity. Last Friday it bought GEs British life insurance operations for 465 million and last year it bought General Electrics reinsurance arm for $7.8 billion (4.2 billion).

Other groups are likely to be interested in Lloyds TSBs portfolio of closed life funds controlled by its Scottish Widows subsidiary, including Hugh Osmonds Pearl Group, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. But Lloyds TSB sources said there was no plan for a sale. Resolution has said it would consider further acquisitions. It has about seven million customers and combined life company invested assets of more than 63 billion.

AFX - 11.26am October 16

Scottish Widows safe


UK bank Lloyds TSB Group has no intention of selling its Scottish Widows insurance division.

This makes a reported bid for the unit by European insurers Axa and Swiss Re unlikely to succeed, analysts said.

According to a report in The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Axa of France and Switzerlands' Swiss Re have teamed up to buy Scottish Widows, with Axa aiming to take on on the unit's mainstream insurance business, and Swiss Re picking up its closed life funds.

The paper said Lloyds, the UK's fifth-biggest bank, last week rejected an initial bid from the pair which valued Scottish Widows at about 8bn.

Swiss Re and Axa declined to comment. A Lloyds spokesperson also declined to comment on the bid report, but said Scottish Widows is not for sale. 'We're committed to Scottish Widows which is a core part of our business,' the spokesperson said.

Analysts in London said that with Scottish Widows now benefiting from an upturn in the UK savings market after several years of underperformance, Lloyds is unlikely to sell at this juncture.

'Having resisted pressure to sell at much lower prices just a couple of years ago, we see little reason for Lloyds to sell now, just as the business is starting to show signs of turning around,' analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods, who have an 'underperform' stance on Lloyds shares, wrote in a research note.

Merill Lynch analyst James Invine was also sceptical, pointing out that Lloyds' chief executive, Eric Daniels, has recently highlighted Scottish Widows' strategic importance to the bank.

'We think a deal is unlikely given that just two weeks ago the CEO was saying that an insurance manufacturing capability is core to the group's strategy,' Invine wrote in a note.

Lloyds acquired Scottish Widows for 7bn six years ago, a figure that many analysts view as overinflated. The business, battered by the stock market downturn of 2000-2003, did not generate any returns for Lloyds until 2004, when it paid a first dividend of 200m.

Scottish Widow's performance since then has improved, helped by an equity market revival and growing demand for long-term savings products in the UK amid mounting consumer concerns about inadequate pension plans. It paid a total of 1bn in dividends to Lloyds last year, and generated a further 400m for its parent in the first half of 2006.

According to Keefe Bruyette & Woods, the furthest Lloyds may go would be to sell its closed life funds, currently worth about 800m, as a 'tidying-up exercise.'

In that scenario, there would be strong interest from closed life fund consolidators such as Resolution and privately-owned Pearl Group. The Times reported today that Resolution chief executive Charles Thomson might consider a bid for all of Scottish Widows if the business were formally put up for sale, although no offer is currently planned.

Analysts say a disposal of Scottish Widows would make Lloyds itself a more attractive acquisition target. The bank is regularly the subject of takeover rumours, with Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, and Wells Fargo and Bank of America of the US named as possible suitors.

However, Lloyds' bid talk has eased in recent months, with analysts citing management's unwillingness to sell as the biggest obstacle to a deal.

Oh well......

Mind the drop it may get bumpy when it lands.

May be as thick as a brick and am quite new to this game but why would the sp fall if it's benifical to lloyds to hold on to Scottish Widows ?

less likely there will be a takeover approach

Thanks MD must go set a stop loss.