Metro Bank's biggest shareholder open to selling stake - report

(Sharecast News) - Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal is reportedly open to selling his majority stake in lender Metro Bank and has received interest from investors. Reuters cited two people with knowledge of the matter said as saying that Gilinski Bacal - who sits on Metro's board as a non-executive director and who owns a 52.87% stake via his Spaldy Investments vehicle - has been considering options for his stake including a sale, after a rebound in the bank's share price.

He became the majority shareholder after playing a critical role in its £325m equity recapitalisation in 2023.

Private equity firms Pollen Street Capital and BC Partners together in recent weeks made an offer for Metro Bank, one of the people and a third one told Reuters. But they stopped their work after a disagreement on valuation and the board rejecting their offer, said the first person.

Reuters said another possibility for Gilinski could be a deal to grow Metro by merging it with another lender. He has said in the past that there were opportunities to grow the bank.

At 1620 BST, the shares were up 3.8% at 130.60p.