Elliott reportedly eyes stake in Metro Bank
This article was first published on Activist Insight Online on September 30, 2019. For more information about the product, click here.
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Shares in Metro Bank were up more than 6% on Monday morning following reports that activist investor Elliott Management is considering buying a stake or buying parts of the retail bank, the Sunday Times reported.
According to the report, Elliott is among a group of investors interested in buying an equity stake or new debt in a private placement.
Last week, Metro abandoned a 250-million-pound bond issue after failing to attract investor interest for the debt despite the 7.5% yield it offered.
Investors placed only 175 million pounds worth of orders. Metro was seeking to raise funds with the bond issue before a regulatory deadline in January 2020.
“Given the current market conditions though Metro have elected to not proceed with a transaction at this time,” Metro said earlier this month.
Metro’s shares have tumbled nearly 90% since a major loan book error scandal came to light in January. At the time, the bank said it had miscalculated the risk weightings on parts of its loan book.
Last year, Metro’s chairman and founder Vernon Hill came under fire over 21 million pounds of questionable payments to his wife’s architecture company, InterArch. At the time, activist investor Royal London Asset Management said that it would vote its shares against the re-election of Hill.
The executive was re-elected at the April 2018 meeting, with 96% of the votes cast in favor of him continuing in his role. However, Metro said in July this year that it will replace Hill and started searching for a replacement.
Metro’s shared traded up around 4% to 201.50 pence apiece at 10:00 a.m. British Summer Time in London.