Shares in Metro Bank have continued to climb in early-morning trading after it emerged that the UK lender may have been lined up for a takeover by private equity firm Pollen Street Capital.
Metro's share price was up 16.6% on reports that Pollen Street was eyeing up a potential combination with majority-owned Shawbrook Bank.
Shawbrook's owners have intensified efforts to identify meger opportunities, having previously held talks with Starling Bank about a £5 billion tie-up.
Metro Bank - which was an avid proponent of the branch banking model - became the first new lender to open on Britain's high streets in over 100 years when it launched following the 2008 financial crisis. However, the bank came close to insolvency after an accounting scandal in 2023 rocked the loss-making firm to its core.
The struggling lender secured a £925 million rescue deal anchored by Colombian billionaire James Gilinski Baca and has since cut over a thousand jobs in a bid to stay afloat.
UK specialist lender Shawbrook in January was rumoured to be weighing a sale or a London listing at a valuation of £2 billion.
Any deal to take Metro Bank private would be a double blow to the London Stock Exchange, which has seen a fleet of firms depart from their primary or entire UK listing in favour of privatisation or overseas.