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(Adds details from source, analyst comments, updates shares)
By Steve Slater
LONDON, July 8 (Reuters) - Lloyds Banking Group shares jumped to a 2-1/2 year high on Monday as overseasinvestors stepped up their interest in buying part of the bank,with media reports suggesting some may want half thegovernment's stake.
Former Standard Chartered chief executive MervynDavies is talking to others about forming a consortium to be an"anchor" or cornerstone investor in part-nationalised Lloydswhich the government is planning to sell, a person familiar withthe matter said.
Davies is a partner at U.S. private equity firm CorsairCapital. It was too early to say how big a stake any consortiummight want, the source said.
Sky News said a Corsair-led consortium of sovereign wealthfunds and financial firms could buy up to 10 billion pounds($14.9 billion) of Lloyds, or half the government's 39 percentstake.
The government has received a number of tentative enquiriesabout the sale, including from overseas investors, a personfamiliar with the matter said on Sunday.
Britain is keen to start selling its 20 billion poundholding in Lloyds this year, and dozens of top investment bankswill pitch for the job of handling the sale by a Treasurydeadline on Monday.
The Sunday Times said Singapore state investor Temasek had made an approach about buying a 4.5 billion poundstake in Lloyds, although industry sources said there had beenno direct approach to the British government.
By 1030 GMT Lloyds shares were up 2.8 percent at 66.4 pence,after hitting 66.6p, their highest level since February 2011 andcomfortably above the 61.2p level the government regards as itsbreak-even price.
"Given the shares are trading at a premium to what thegovernment paid and the capital position seems to be where itneeds to be and the signs of improvement in the UK economy,everything seems to be moving in the right direction," said GaryGreenwood, analyst at Shore Capital.
"Now would seem to be a good time to kick it off (thegovernment share sale), and if the stories about sovereignwealth funds and other interest are true then there are willingbuyers."
Britain's finance minister George Osborne last month gavethe green light to starting the sale of Lloyds shares soon.
Lloyds shares outpaced a 1.5 percent rise by the STOXXEurope 600 banking index. The shares have jumped morethan 40 percent in the last three months, valuing the bank atabout $70 billion.
Shares in RBS, which is 81 percent owned by the government,rallied 4.8 percent on signs of greater interest in thestate-backed banks. But bankers and analysts say a sale ofBritain's stake in RBS is unlikely to occur until well into 2014at the earliest.
($1 = 0.6719 British pounds) (Editing by Alexander Smith and Erica Billingham)
