Elliott Investors said to mull stake in Metro Bank

(Sharecast News) - US activist investor Elliott Advisers is reportedly considering taking a stake in or buying parts of Metro Bank.
According to the Sunday Times, Elliott is among a clutch of investors looking at the challenger bank after it was forced to pull a bond sale last week as it could not attract enough interest despite an interest rate of 7.5%.

Metro was looking to raise between £200m and £250m to meet new EU regulations known as MREL, but had only received £175m of orders by Monday afternoon, according to the Financial Times, a day before the sale.

In a statement, Metro thanked "the broad number of investors who have met with the company and shown interest in its potential inaugural MREL issuance".

"Given the current market conditions, Metro has decided to not proceed with a transaction at this time. Metro has a strong capital position and therefore the flexibility to raise MREL at the right time for the bank," it said.

The Sunday Times said activist investors were understood to be interested in taking an equity stake or buying new debt at a higher coupon in a private placement. It cited one analyst as saying that the coupon would have to be "bloody high" for a private sale.

At 1510 BST, the shares were up 3.8% at 200p, having hit as high as 217.52p earlier in the day.