Metro Bank Holdings PLC (LSE:MTRO) shares jumped 13% on Monday morning on reports that it had received a takeover approach from a potential private equity buyer.
Sky News reported that the challenger bank received a proposal in the past two weeks from Pollen Street Capital, one of the owners rival lender Shawbrook, which has shown merger interest in Metro before.
Pollen Street, which along with fellow private equity firm BC Partners bought Shawbrook in 2017, have also held "tentative talks" with Starling Bank about a merger and looked at a stock market listing.
The pair had lined up IPO advisers early this year, but pressed pause after US tariff disruptions.
Metro Bank reported better-than-expected results in February this year, returning to the black in the second half of 2024, after a troubled period that culminated in a £925 million debt-and-equity rescue deal, where Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal's Spaldy Investments, built a 52% stake.
After selling its residential mortgages book to NatWest, chief executive Daniel Frumkin has shifted focus from retail banking to specialist business and SME lending.