Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was sued by shareholders who claim the lender misled them when selling new shares in 2008, the same year it was rescued by the British government.

Lawyers representing a group of financial firms and pension funds filed a class-action lawsuit in a London court, according to an e-mailed statement. The shareholders say RBS and its directors made misleading statements ahead of the so-called rights issue and didn’t reveal financial weaknesses.

RBS is 81 percent owned by taxpayers after getting the world’s biggest bank bailout. It raised 12 billion pounds ($18.2 billion) from investors in the share sale that year, before collapsing under the weight of bad loans.