<P> Like many other Building Societies, the Leeds later took advantage of changes brought by the Building Societies Act 1986, diversifying its business into share - selling, off - shore banking, estate agency and property development . </P> <P> Further amalgamations were considered in the 1980s and early 1990s including the Southdown Building Society which proceeded, but others were not forthcoming . It had a notable television advertising campaign featuring George Cole in the same period which featured the slogan Laughing all the way to The Leeds . In 1993 a new head office at Lovell Park replaced the Leeds's previous head office on The Headrow which was eventually replaced with The Light shopping and leisure complex . </P> <P> Then in 1995, the Leeds merged with the Halifax Building Society, which shortly afterwards converted to plc status . After its merger with the Halifax the use of the Leeds Building Society name had ceased . In turn the Halifax had merged with Bank of Scotland to form HBOS in 2001 which in turn became part of Lloyds Banking Group in 2009 due to the collapse of its share price and exposure to the credit crunch . </P>

Who took over the leeds permanent building society
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