SHARES in start-up bank NBNK were suspended yesterday, signalling that talks to buy the Clydesdale Bank from National Australia Bank are of a serious nature.
The bank is thought to be keen to take over the business ahead of a deal to buy a parcel of branches being sold by Lloyds Banking Group.
NBNK, which is headed by Lloyds of London chairman Lord Peter Levene and is listed on the junior Aim market, told investors: “NBNK was formed for the purpose of making acquisitions in order to establish a significant UK retail bank.
“In view of the size of the operations NBNK is seeking to acquire, any of which would be a reverse takeover pursuant to the Aim rules for companies, and the level of on-going press speculation concerning possible acquisitions, trading in the company’s shares will now be suspended until such time as an admission document is published in relation to an acquisition or the talks otherwise conclude.”
NBNK is run by former Northern Rock chief executive Gary Hoffman.
Its board boasts two heavyweight Scottish political figures, former Tory Scottish Secretary Lord Michael Forsyth and Lord John McFall, a former Labour MP who chaired the Treasury select committee.
The purchase of Clydesdale, which also owns Yorkshire Bank, would immediately hand the new business some 2.7 million customers, most of them which are concentrated in Scotland and the north of England.
It would form a platform for NBNK to buy 632 branches, including the Lloyds TSB Scotland network, being sold by Lloyds.
This would create a new bank with 971 branches and in excess of £40 billion in deposits if it is successful.
Clydesdale has 150 branches while Yorkshire has 180 branches across the north and Midlands of England.
Lloyds is in the process of assessing bidders for its branches, which it must sell as part of a European Commission-enforced deal.
Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio accelerated the sales process after taking over in March and has said he is keen to identify a buyer for the branches by the end of the year.
NBNK said there is no certainty a transaction will be made and further announcements will be made in due course.
Other bidders for the Lloyds branches are thought to include the Co-operative’s banking arm and investment firm Sun Capital.
Virgin Money was rumoured to be interested but it is now understood to be focusing on a bid for Northern Rock.
‘‘
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article