Comdirect, the online broker owned by Commerzbank, has pulled out of its remaining foreign operations, selling its UK subsidiary to a consortium led by the private equity arm of Lloyds TSB, the UK bank.

The €16.5m ($19.9m) sale comes two years after Comdirect closed its French and Italian businesses at a cost of €165m. The brokerage has tried to make the UK business profitable since it was launched in June 2000. It expects it to break even this year.