Linklaters and Clifford Chance have won the lead mandates on Metro Bank’s initial public offering, as it makes its debut on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) today (7 March).
Metro Bank was advised by Linklaters partners Jason Manketo, John Lane and Charlie Jacobs, with the challenger bank raising £400m ahead of the listing.
Meanwhile fellow magic circle firm Clifford Chance worked with the sponsor RBC Europe and private placement advisers, with a team including capital markets head Adrian Cartwright and US securities partner John Connolly.
Having been established in 2010, Metro Bank has raised over £1bn of equity capital from shareholders. Based on its offer price, the retail bank is expected to have a market capitalisation of £1.6bn.
Its listing is one of the largest of the year so far, with Linklaters leading on a number of other IPOs already this year, including CMC Markets and Countryside.
Background to the deal
Metro Bank was established nearly six years ago and was the first high street bank to come into existence in the UK for more than 100 years.
At the time, Travers Smith was instructed to assist the bank on its application for authorisation and fundraising exercise, while Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom worked on the capital raising in the US.
Travers is expected to have made it onto Metro Bank’s lending and securities panel review, which began in 2014, along with a number of other firms such as Eversheds and Hill Dickinson.
However, it was Linklaters that the bank decided to call upon for its IPO, with the magic circle firm acting throughout the discussions.
