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The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, which supervises banks, approached a number of big UK banks last week to see if they had any interest in Metro, according to three people familiar with the approaches.
The regulator is keen that any bids would be for the whole bank, rather than parts of the business, according to two people familiar with the approaches.
https://www.ft.com/content/fe6f375e-c52f-496f-90dd-9c34e64cb581
The balls on them if they made such an offer and then leaked it to the press. Remember that the company had no issues in September which was when they made their latest offer. All was well. Then the idiots at Metro decided to provide a timeline when previously they refused to do so.
The CEO’s golden parachute is probably more lucrative than his shareholding.
Even if it’s not, the quantity of shares doesn’t determine the board’s responsibility to the shareholder in law.
The CEO has repeatedly said no fundraise required. Either one is or not.
Sky would have asked Metro for a comment, they could have said they have an offer from bondholders and taken the sting out the news releases. They could have engaged. They didn’t and saw shareholder value diminish further.
The board sat on an offer for a week.
The board sat on acquisition attempts, they should have informed investors they are receiving offers and polled shareholders.
If they want to earn their keep then Metro should agree with the bondholders the £350m extension and agree to carry on discussions about the equity investment. Getting the MREL agreed takes the pressure off but Metro doesn’t need either.
A proposal from Metro's bondholders offering a 600 million pound ($733.98 million) capital injection is viewed by the bank as handing over too much control, and equity holders are being consulted, the source said.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/metro-bank-discuss-funding-with-shareholders-this-weekend-source-2023-10-06/
Metro Bank bondholders offer lender £600mn capital package
Group made proposal after bank suffered setback in effort to secure regulatory relief on mortgage business
A group of Metro Bank bondholders contacted the UK lender’s board on Monday offering a £600mn capital injection, but the company has yet to accept the offer, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The challenger bank sent representatives for the consortium of bondholders a letter on Friday morning that acknowledged the offer, which is still on the table, according to one of the people. The bondholders’ offer came before Metro approached investors this week about a separate fundraising plan for a similar amount to shore up its balance sheet.
Https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-10-06/metro-bank-s-hectic-week-came-after-months-of-slowburn-concern
"Top staffers and board members alike have spent months weighing what they will do when a £350 million ($427 million) bond is no longer allowed to count toward key capital requirements beginning next year. For starters, they’d hoped to convince regulators to let them use a new, internal model for calculating risk-weighted assets that would likely boost the firm’s capital ratios. This summer, existing investors were being sounded out about potential options for raising capital."
At least 6.89% of the shares were sold by someone who is betting on the share price falling. There's a day lag, so it could be that they closed or reduced their positions today. We'll find out end of play Monday.
Perhaps instead of buying the loan book one of the banks is looking at taking over the bank. £3bn for the loan book or £200 or so million for the whole bank and then spend a £billion to restructure and you can now have your cake and eat it to. Obviously if there's a takeover play happening we won't hear about it in the rumours because whoever is leaking to the press only cares about leaking negative lies.