Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleShawbrook Bank may file for a London IPO soon, potentially valuing the bank at £2 billion, amid a challenging IPO landscape in the UK.
By Charlie Conchie
LONDON -British bank Shawbrook could file for an initial public offering as early as the coming days, two people familiar with the matter said, in what would be one of London's biggest debuts in years.
The lender, owned by private equity firms BC Partners and Pollen Street, is preparing to announce its flotation plan after shelving preparations earlier this year due to market volatility, the people said.
They cautioned that no firm decision had been made.
An IPO could value Shawbrook at as much as 2 billion pounds ($2.7 billion), one of the people said.
LONDON HAS STRUGGLED TO ATTRACT NEW LISTINGS
A flotation would mark a return to the public market for the lender after it was taken private by BC Partners and Pollen Street in 2017. The owners have also explored a number of deals with rival lenders in the past two years, including Metro Bank and Co-op Bank, Reuters has previously reported.
Shawbrook declined to comment. The Financial Times earlier reported the news.
Shawbrook's IPO would be a boost for London after a barren patch for new listings and fears over the health of Britain's capital markets.
London is on course for its lowest number of IPOs ever this year, with just nine companies listing so far across the main market and junior AIM, according to London Stock Exchange data.
While policymakers and regulators overhauled London's listing rules last year, the move has yet to translate into meaningful IPO activity.
Advisers are hoping for a pickup in the coming months, however.
Canned-food maker Princes and Beauty Tech Group have both announced plans to float in London.
Hg, the private equity owner of Visma, has also provisionally picked London for an IPO of the software company next year in a deal that could value the company at around $20 billion.
($1 = 0.7422 pounds)
(Reporting by Charlie ConchieEditing by Mark Potter)
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the process through which a private company offers shares to the public for the first time, allowing it to raise capital from public investors.
Private equity refers to investment funds that buy and restructure companies that are not publicly traded, often aiming to improve their financial performance before selling them at a profit.
Market volatility refers to the degree of variation in trading prices over time, indicating the level of risk associated with a particular investment or market.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, where shares of publicly traded companies are bought and sold.
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