Stakes in about 60 companies may be sold as Lloyds Banking Group organises the assets of its acquisition HBOS.
UBS has been hired to look into the potential stake sales. It is thought that a sale of some of all of the holdings could take place within months, though Lloyds is not under pressure to sell.
The holdings, which were acquisitions made by HBOS's financial division, include D&D Restaurants, Vue Entertainment, the cinema chain, David Lloyd Leisure, the gym chain, and TM Lewin, the shirt retailer.
The value of the stakes has fallen from £1.4bn when purchased down to £600m.
Lloyds has already seen plenty of interest in the stakes, however UBS is going to approach secondary investors in the private equity industry.
Speculation would have it that other parts of Lloyds Group could also be put on the block. Its insurance division, which includes Scottish Widows, is under review by advisers at Deutsche Bank.
