UK's Metro Bank up for sale as part of strategic review

Detailed summary

Britain's Metro Bank on Thursday launched a formal sale process as part of a strategic review, opening the door to a potential takeover as the lender seeks to build on its…

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Britain's Metro Bank on Thursday put itself up for sale as part of a strategic review, opening the door to a potential takeover after a years-long drive to change its fortunes.

The bank, which had a market capitalization of £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) as of Wednesday's close, said it was not in active discussions with any potential bidder and had not received any offer.

Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal owns a majority stake in the bank after participating in an equity recapitalisation of the bank three years ago.

Reuters reported last year that Gilinski was open to selling his stake and around that time had received interest from investors.

The move comes after multi-year turnaround efforts at the bank, which included cost cuts, acceleration into higher-return lending for companies and offering specialist mortgages.

(Reporting by Rishab Shaju and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru, Iain Withers and Muvija M in London; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Tomasz Janowski)

Looking for more insights? Explore our other news sections for updates on sustainable finance, companies and financial education

Opening of the article, excerpted from Euronext. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.