Bank hires Barclays to advise on bid that would value lender at £800 million
A private equity-backed lender is planning a £3.5bn swoop on the Co-operative Bank in one of the most significant UK deals for the sector since the 2008 financial crisis.
Shawbrook Group, the small business lender, has approached the owners of the Co-operative Bank in recent weeks with proposals for a stock-based merger.
The bank has hired Barclays to advise it on the bid in a deal that would value the Co-operative Bank, which has 2.7 million retail customers, at £800m, Sky News reported.
The merger would herald long-predicted consolidation in the mid-market banking sector amid a period of turbulence with surging interest rates and the crisis precipitated by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US.