Lloyds Nabs Extra £40m in Scottish Widows Sale to Aberdeen Asset Management

Lloyds Banking Group will net an extra £39.4m in its sale of insurance giant Scottish Widows Investment Partnership to Aberdeen Asset Management.

The additional payment on top takes the total paid by Aberdeen to state-backed Lloyds to around £550m ($916bn, €664bn). This will be paid in Aberdeen shares.

A further £100m will be paid depending on the performance of Lloyds assets now managed by Aberdeen under a new strategic partnership stemming from the deal.

Lloyds, which is 24.9% owned by taxpayers following a bailout during the financial crisis, will receive the extra payment because Aberdeen's share price fell below 420p. As a result of the deal, Lloyds will hold an 11% stake in Aberdeen.

"We are pleased to have completed this important acquisition as planned and on schedule, so that we can now commence the task of integrating SWIP into the enlarged Aberdeen Asset Management Group," said Martin Gilbert, chief executive of Aberdeen.

The addition of Scottish Widows leaves Aberdeen with £324.5bn of assets under its management, making it one of Europe's largest publicly-traded asset managers.

Aberdeen shares were up over 6% on the news of the deal's completion, while Lloyds shares lifted by just over 1%.

Towards the end of March 2013, the UK government offloaded a 7.8% chunk of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group, raising £4.2bn.

The government has suggested it will sell of its remaining Lloyds stake in tranches across 2014.

It also holds an 81% stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) following a similar bailout, but the bank's share price is still deemed too low to yield any value for money for taxpayers in a sale.