LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - Singapore state investor Temasek has not approached the British government about buyinga 4.5 billion pound ($6.70 billion) stake in part-nationalisedLloyds Banking Group, industry sources told Reuters onSunday.
The Sunday Times had reported that Singapore's sovereignwealth fund made a preliminary approach to the Britishgovernment about buying part of its 39 percent holding inLloyds.
A spokesman for Temasek said the company did not comment onmarket speculation. UK Financial Investments (UKFI), whichmanages the government's bank stakes, and Lloyds also declinedto comment.
Britain is kicking off the process to sell its interest inLloyds worth an estimated 20 billion pounds, with advisers askedto pitch by Monday for the job of handling the sale.
One of the sources told Reuters the government had receiveda number of tentative enquiries about the sale, including fromoverseas investors.
Among the bidders when the process starts formally could beformer Standard Chartered chief executive MervynDavies. Sky News reported on Saturday that he was forming aconsortium of sovereign wealth funds and financial institutionsto buy as much as half of Britain's Lloyds stake.
Temasek could emerge as part of a Davies-led consortiumgiven comments it made recently about future investments.
"We are ... seeing increasing opportunities in the UnitedStates and Europe that are beneficiaries of the growth in othergeographies, and are likely to step up our pace of investmentsin these markets," Temasek said in its annual review onThursday.
Lloyds (LLOY)
Standard Chartered (STAN)
