Metro Bank agrees rescue deal with investors
The Guardian says The embattled high street lender Metro Bank has agreed a rescue deal with investors to shore up its balance sheet after a weekend of negotiations.
The bank announced late on Sunday that it had secured a £325m capital raise, including £150m of new equity from shareholders, and £600m of debt refinancing.
The equity raise will be led by its largest shareholder, the Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal’s Spaldy Investments, which will contribute £102m. His stake will rise from 9% to 53%, making him the controlling shareholder.
Metro is also in discussions about selling up to £3bn of residential mortgages.
The Bank of England’s regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, is understood to have been approaching a number of big lenders in the past few days, including NatWest and JP Morgan Chase, to see if they had any interest in buying Metro.