Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

By Vladimir Guevarra Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LYG) prefers to sell some 600 branches as part of a divestment plan agreed with the European Commission, and not float a new bank on the stock exchange, a bank spokeswoman said Sunday. "The group has until November 2013 to complete the divestment program agreed with the E.U. We are therefore only in the preliminary stages of this process. Our objective is to sell this business to a third party rather than to float it," the spokeswoman said. The comments came after the Sunday Times reported that Lloyds is working on plans for a stock-market listing of a chain of 600 branches it is being forced to sell by the European Commission. The listing would create a new U.K. bank with a 5% share of the retail banking sector and an estimated market value of between GBP3 billion and GBP4 billion, the report said, without citing sources. It said UBS AG (UBS) and Merrill Lynch (MER) are advising Lloyds on the listing plan, code named Project Verdi. - By Vladimir Guevarra, Dow Jones Newswires. Tel. +44 (0) 2078429486, vladimir.guevarra@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 13, 2010 08:25 ET (12:25 GMT)