Metro Bank to Unveil $455 Million Share Sale Next Week: Sky News

(Bloomberg) -- Metro Bank Plc, the embattled British lender founded by U.S. entrepreneur Vernon Hill, will next week reveal the details of a 350 million-pound ($455 million) share sale it hopes will strengthen its finances, Sky News reported on Saturday.

A shareholder vote to approve the transaction is expected to take place in the coming weeks, according to the report, which cited unidentified sources. The plan to raise equity to support Metro Bank’s growth “is well advanced,” the company said in a statement in response to the report, adding that it has commenced final discussions with existing shareholders and new investors, “and the feedback continues to be positive.”

Its shares have tumbled more than two thirds this year after the lender revealed it misclassified mortgages. In February, it said it planned to raise about 350 million pounds in a share sale in the first half of 2019.

Metro Bank was founded to challenge Britain’s big lenders almost a decade ago by U.S. entrepreneur Vernon Hill. This year, it has become the most shorted company on the London stock market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Farchy in London at jfarchy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net, Angela Cullen, James Amott

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