Beleaguered Metro Bank calls in consultants to help find a buyer
Beleaguered Metro Bank is calling in consultants to help find a buyer
- An adviser in talks with creditors, hoping to secure a deal before the markets open
- JP Morgan Chase and HSBC were considering a bid for the challenger bank
- Metro is reportedly seeking a lifeline of up to £600m
Metro Bank has called on consulting giant Ernst & Young as it struggles to find a buyer.
The adviser has been in talks with creditors over the weekend, hoping to secure a deal before markets open today, Bloomberg reports.
Heavyweight bankers JP Morgan Chase and HSBC considered bidding for the challenger bank before backing out over concerns about the extra capital any new buyer would have to put up.
Santander UK is also being advised by George Osborne’s firm, Robey Warshaw, on arranging a takeover, Sky News reports.
Metro, which was set up in 2010, is reportedly seeking a lifeline of up to £600m.
Struggle: Metro – which was set up in 2010 – is reportedly seeking a lifeline of up to £600m
Its shares tumbled last week after the bank confirmed it was looking to strengthen its capital position.
It recently rejected a takeover approach from Shawbrook, a so-called challenger bank.
Metro, which has 2.8m customers and 76 branches, needs cash to refinance £350m of debt within a year.
The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), which oversees banks, is also understood to have held talks with several UK lenders to drum up interest in Metro.
Danny Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said: “The clock is ticking for Metro Bank. Every minute of doubt is costly – depositors lose confidence, investors become nervous and the cost of securing the bank’s future increases.”