Metro Bank Puts Itself Up for Sale as Billionaire Backer Eyes Exit
The British lender, rescued in 2023, has hired Morgan Stanley to seek offers as majority owner Jaime Gilinski Bacal looks to cash out.
Metro Bank, the British high street lender that came close to collapse three years ago, said on Thursday that it has put itself up for sale. The move could open the way to a takeover and give its largest shareholder, Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal, a route out of his investment. The bank said it has hired Morgan Stanley to run the process. It also said it has received no approach or offer so far and is not in active talks with any potential buyer.
Investors welcomed the news. Reuters reported that the shares rose 7%, while the PA news agency put the morning gain at about 6%. Before the announcement, the lender’s market value was roughly £1.2 billion (about $1.6 billion), based on Wednesday’s closing price, according to Reuters.
What happened
Metro Bank said the sale process is part of a wider strategic review. It is inviting interested parties to contact Morgan Stanley, its lead adviser. The bank said it had “successfully completed a substantial transformation” in recent years and now wants to build on that to grow faster, PA reported.
According to The Telegraph, the board said it “unanimously believes” that testing interest in a sale offers the best way to maximize value for shareholders. Publicly announcing that a company is open to bids is unusual in the UK. It means the bank can invite a wider pool of possible buyers instead of waiting for one to make an approach.
Metro Bank said that if no deal comes out of the process, it will continue as a standalone business under its current strategy. Reuters reported that the bank says it is on track to meet its performance targets through 2028.
The billionaire behind the bank
Gilinski Bacal is a Colombian banking investor. His company owns about 53% of Metro Bank. He became the majority shareholder in 2023, when he led an emergency recapitalization that kept the lender afloat, and he joined the board as a non-executive director. The Telegraph reported that his wish to exit is what led to the sale. Reuters had reported in 2025 that he was open to selling his stake and that investors had shown interest at the time.
The 2023 crisis began when Metro Bank disclosed that regulators had not approved a change it had sought in the capital requirements for its mortgage book. The shares fell by more than half, The Telegraph reported, and the bank had to raise new capital fast. Shareholders later approved a £925 million funding package, according to PA.
A turnaround under Daniel Frumkin
Chief executive Daniel Frumkin took over in 2020, after earlier setbacks that included an accounting error disclosed in 2019, which badly hurt the share price. Since the 2023 rescue, he has led a deep overhaul. Steps reported by Reuters, PA and The Telegraph include:
- Three rounds of layoffs that cut more than 1,000 jobs.
- Ending seven-day-a-week branch opening, which had been a signature feature since the bank launched.
- A shift away from mainstream retail lending toward higher-return loans to companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses, and specialist mortgages.
The results have improved sharply. Metro Bank returned to profit in 2025 with a pretax surplus of £87.2 million, compared with a £212.1 million loss in 2024, PA reported. Costs fell 7% over that year. In August, the bank reported pretax profit of about £61 million for the first half of 2026, up 41% and its best half-year on record. Outlets gave slightly different exact figures for the half-year profit, ranging from £60.6 million to £60.7 million. The Telegraph reported that net interest income rose 8% to £242 million and customer loans grew 4% to £9.1 billion, mostly from corporate and commercial lending. The shares have risen about 50% this year, the paper added.
Who might buy, and what comes next
Metro Bank opened in 2010 as Britain’s first new high street bank in more than a century. It was part of a wave of so-called challenger banks, newer lenders trying to win customers from the big established banks. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 at a valuation of about £1.6 billion but never took a large share of the market from its bigger rivals. Today it runs 78 branches across the UK, according to PA.
Gary Greenwood, a banking analyst at Shore Capital, a UK stockbroker, said the sale follows a “remarkable recovery” since the 2023 rescue. He said an all-cash purchase by a private equity firm would be the cleanest outcome, because it would let Gilinski Bacal sell his controlling stake outright. A merger with a specialist bank could make strategic sense, Greenwood said, but would probably be paid for at least partly in shares. A larger bank might hesitate to pay a premium because of the cost of running Metro’s branch network, he added.
Earlier interest reported in 2025 did not lead to a deal. For now, Metro Bank has no bidder on the table. The coming months will show whether buyers are willing to pay a price that rewards its turnaround.
