Metro Bank shares surge on talk of private equity takeover - Metro Bank

Metro Bank shares person surged to a 2 year-high aft quality of a takeover attack by a London backstage equity steadfast that could make uncertainty for customers and staff.

It emerged implicit the play that Pollen Street Capital has sounded retired Metro bosses implicit a imaginable deal, which could instrumentality the listed lender disconnected the London Stock Exchange and backmost into backstage hands.

The rumours person besides sparked speculation that Metro would yet beryllium merged with different of Pollen’s companies, the specializer concern lender Shawbrook.

The quality sent Metro Bank shares up by much than 15% to a precocious of 130p connected Monday.

A backstage equity takeover and imaginable merger would make further uncertainty for the bank’s employees, who person conscionable emerged from a cost-cutting programme that resulted successful astir 1,000 occupation losses. About 3,000 unit survived the latest circular of cuts, which were portion of turnaround efforts pursuing the bank’s adjacent failure successful October 2023.

Any further cuts could rise questions astir services for Metro’s 3 cardinal customers, including those services offered crossed its costly subdivision network. The slope has already chopped backmost connected opening hours crossed its 75 branches, which were primitively unfastened 7 days a week.

While nary terms has been attached to Pollen’s prospective offer, a merchantability could effect successful a windfall for immoderate of Metro’s shareholders, who saw shares dip to astir 30p months aft the slope was forced into a rescue deal.

Metro was the archetypal precocious thoroughfare slope to unfastened successful the UK in much than 100 years erstwhile it was launched by the US billionaire Vernon Hill successful 2010. It attracted a question of customers, and offered dog-friendly branches with seven-day opening.

But the slope suffered successful the years that followed. Its stock terms was each but wiped retired successful 2019 aft an accounting mistake led to the resignation of it apical executives and founder. It took a further dive successful 2023 erstwhile it emerged that the slope would request much currency from investors aft it failed to person regulators that Metro could beryllium trusted to measure its ain risks.

The Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal present holds a 53% involvement successful the lender arsenic portion of the £925m rescue woody successful 2023, which was 3 years aft helium started gathering a stake.

Metro Bank, Pollen Capital and Shawbrook each declined to comment.