British lender Lloyds Banking Group is reportedly in advanced discussions to acquire Embark Group for £400m.
The official announcement can come as early as this month, Sky News reported citing sources familiar with the development.
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Incorporated in England and Wales, Embark Group is a privately owned company offering savings and retirement products.
The company was established in 2012 and is said to have around £40bn under administration. It serves around 415,000 individual clients and eight locations across the country.
If the deal proceeds, it will represent Lloyds’ one of the most significant deals since 2008 when it was bailed out by the government, the Sky News report added.
However, the development was not confirmed by Lloyds and Embark.
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By GlobalDataThe takeover is said to be aligned with Lloyds’ plans to bolster its footprint in other financial service areas.
Recently, Lloyds bank reported a pre-tax profit of £1.9bn on net income of £3.7bn in the first quarter of 2021. The performance exceeded analysts’ expectations.
Group chief executive António Horta-Osório is also set to step down by the end of the year after spending a decade at the helm.
Lloyds’ £1.9bn acquisition of credit card group MBNA in 2016 remains the banking group’s largest deal under him.
Under Horta-Osório stint, Lloyds also returned fully to private hands in 2017.
