The owners of Shawbrook Group, the mid-sized UK lender, are drawing up plans to revive London’s moribund listings sector with an initial public offering, valuing it at more than £2bn.
Sky News has learned that BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital, which took Shawbrook private in 2017, are set to appoint Goldman Sachs to oversee work on a possible IPO.
Other investment banks, perhaps including Barclays, are expected to join in the near future.
Shawbrook shareholders are reportedly willing to take the company public in the first half of this year.
People familiar with the matter cautioned that no decision to proceed with a listing had been made and that it would depend on market conditions.
If this comes to fruition, Shawbrook would almost certainly rank among the largest London-listed companies in the first half of 2025.
Bankers and investors are also waiting to see whether British regulators will give the green light to an IPO of Shein, the Chinese online fashion giant, which, if it goes ahead, would be one of the biggest IPOs in stock market ever made in the City.
Overall, London is fighting to overturn the impression that its public markets have become a murky arena for state-owned companies, plagued by a lack of liquidity and lower valuations than they could attract in the United States. United.
In recent months, this perception has intensified with the decision of Ashtead, the FTSE-100 equipment rental company, to move its primary listing to New York.
Shawbrook, which employs almost 1,600 people, has 550,000 customers.
Founded in 2011, it was established as a specialist savings and loan institution, offering loans for home improvement projects and weddings, as well as business and property loans.
It is one of a string of mid-tier lenders, including OneSavings Bank, Aldermore Bank and Paragon Bank, which have collectively become an important part of the UK banking landscape since the last financial crisis.
The bid to take Shawbrook public this year will come a year after its owners reportedly hired Bank of America and Morgan Stanley to explore a sale or listing.
It explored a similar process in 2022 but abandoned it due to volatile market conditions.
The company has also sought to position itself at the heart of potential consolidation among the main players in the sector.
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In the fall of 2023, Shawbrook contacted Metro Bank about a possible buyout as the latter bank struggled to stay afloat.
A series of proposals were rejected by the Metro Bank board.
Just weeks earlier, Shawbrook had questioned the Co-operative Bank over a £3.5bn share merger in a bid to pre-empt a wider auction of the former joint lender.
This has also been pushed back, with the Co-operative Bank this week finalizing its sale to Coventry Building Society.
Shawbrook’s third quarter results released to bondholders in November revealed 18% growth in its loan book on an annualized basis, to just over £15 billion.
BC Partners and Pollen Street hold equal stakes in Shawbrook, with its management team also holding a minority.
The bank is led by general manager Marcelino Castrillo.
“We continue to see promising opportunities for expansion and value creation in our core markets, including SMEs and real estate,” Mr. Castrillo said in November.
“The combination of an exceptional customer base, a more stable macroeconomic outlook and growing customer confidence means we are well placed to continue to deliver on our strategic ambitions throughout 2024 and beyond. »
This weekend, Shawbrook, BC Partners and Pollen Street all declined to comment.