Levene accuses Lloyds bosses of misleading MPs

Lord Levene, the City heavyweight who tried to buy more than 600 Lloyds Banking Group branches, has attacked the bank's bosses for misleading MPs over the failed sale.In evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Levene accuses Lloyds' chiefs of being "at best, disingenuous" in their description of the bidding process when appeared at the committee.Lloyds Chairman Sir Win Bischoff and Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio told MPs last month that Levene's NBNK bid vehicle, backed by City investors, offered less money and had fewer credentials than a rival offer by the Co-operative bank. The sale of the branches to the Co-op fell apart in April shortly before the Co-op admitted to a £1.5 bn capital shortfall.In his evidence, Levene said:Lloyds misled the committee when it said the Co-op offer was higher. NBNK's was in the range £630m-£730m versus the Co-op's £700m.Lloyds was wrong to say NBNK had five opportunities to bid. Lloyds "moved the goalposts" and asked NBNK to make its third and fourth bids.Bischoff was personally handed NBNK's paper describing "key risks" of the Co-op deal. Bischoff told the MPs he could not remember the document.Lloyds had said it was satisfied with NBNK's credentials and concerns expressed to the committee were "at odds with its conduct during negotiations."Levene has accused Lloyds of choosing the Co-op under pressure from the government, which owns 40% of Lloyds after the 2008 banking bail-out. He accused UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the Treasury's banking stakes, of accepting what Lloyds said without doing its own checks on the sale.The allegations by Levene, the former chairman of Lloyd's of London, have injected new bitterness into the committee's inquiry into the aborted sale of the branches, forced on Lloyds by the European Union. The committee has yet to hear from the Co-op or its former executives, the Chancellor or UKFI.A Lloyds spokesman said the bank was confident that its decision to favour the Co-op was correct "based on the criteria of financial return and execution". The bank is now planning to sell the branches as a new bank in a public offering.