Britain sells £11.8 billion of Bradford & Bingley bank loans

The British government announced Friday the sale of £11.8 billion ($14.7 billion, 13.7 billion euros) in loans that it acquired from bailed-out bank Bradford & Bingley during the global financial crisis. The closed loans will be sold to insurance group Prudential and to funds managed by private equity giant Blackstone, the Treasury said in a statement.
"The sale of these Bradford & Bingley assets for £11.8 billion marks another major milestone in our plan to get taxpayers' money back following the financial crisis," said finance minister Philip Hammond. Britain injected a total of £133 billion and provided over a trillion pounds in guarantees to prop up its banks in the three years to 2010, according to National Audit Office data. The commercial banking sector also benefited from the Bank of England's record-low interest rates and vast lending stimulus, in place since 2009.