Mervyn Davies, the Standard Chartered Bank CEO is now in the process of forming a consortium consisting of sovereign wealth funds. The fund would then bid for as much as half of the GBP20 billion or US$29.77 billion stake of the British government in the Lloyds Banking Group.

It was reported that Davies had already approached the Treasury several months back about the proposal to purchase half of the British taxpayer's 39% shareholdings in Lloyds. This was reported by Sky, who had cited anonymous sources familiar with the transaction.

Part of the consortium is US private equity firm Corsair Capital, where Davies is currently a partner. Corsair though would not purchase its own shareholdings in Lloyds according to Sky and the report added that the Lloyds deal would be structured near the current market share price.

According to the index at Friday's market close, Lloyds shares were pegged at 6463 pence, which in turn approximates the value of the shareholdings at GBP47 billion.