Digital bank Shawbrook is preparing to list on the London Stock Exchange in a move that could value the business at around £2 billion, just days after Princes Group, the tinned food producer, unveiled its own plans to go public.
The specialist lender, which focuses on areas of the market that larger banks often overlook, said it intends to publish a registration document today, the first formal step towards an initial public offering. Shawbrook’s shares would trade on the main market if the float proceeds.
Founded in 2011, the bank has grown rapidly by targeting professional landlords, small businesses and consumers with more complex borrowing needs.
It now has a loan book of £17 billion, up from £1.4 billion in 2013, and says profits have increased at an average annual rate of 30% over that period.
Chief executive Marcelino Castrillo said the planned float would mark “an important milestone” for the company.
“When Shawbrook was founded, we saw that large parts of the UK economy were unable to access the capital needed to grow,” he said.
“Since then, we have created a scaled and diversified banking platform, combining next-generation technology with deep human expertise.”
Castrillo added that the bank’s digital systems and careful risk management had helped it deliver “a long track record of sustainable, profitable growth through a wide variety of macro conditions”.
Shawbrook’s business model blends technology-driven lending with traditional credit assessment, allowing it to serve customers ranging from property investors to motor finance borrowers.
Its management describes the company as both a “digital platform” and a “specialist lender”.
The group has also been active in acquisitions, completing 24 deals to date. Its latest purchase, ThinCats, a financial technology lender to small and medium-sized firms, was completed at the end of September.
Shawbrook said it aims to double the size of its loan book to £30 billion by 2030 and to deliver profit growth in the “mid-to-high teens” each year.
If it goes ahead, the IPO will be closely watched as a test of investor appetite for financial services listings in London.
The City’s market for new flotations has been subdued in recent years, but the recent announcements from Shawbrook and Princes suggest signs of renewed momentum.
Certainly, the FTSE 100's move into record territory has helped buoy confidence, seeding the ground for the backlog of new listings that have been on hold amid previously fragile demand for UK equities.