Marlton banker Vernon Hill's planned IPO of his Metro Bank Plc in London at the end of February would raise up to $875 million (600 million UK pounds), valuing the company's entire share base at nearly $3 billion, a rich valuation compared to other British banks, reports City A.M. here. Metro had about $2.4 billion in loans and other assets at Sept. 30, Metro reported here.
The sale would pay up to $32 million to senior Metro Bank officers under an incentive plan, reports Sky News here. Despite its modest lending record and past start-up unprofitability, Hill has said his customer-friendly, branch-focused bank is worth more because it is growing faster, and because it lacks the bad-loan baggage of other British banks.
Past Metro backers have included Bruce Toll (of Philadelphia's home-building Toll Brothers, a developer, auto-dealer and coal-mine owner, and former Inquirer investor), along with investors Steven A. Cohen, Richard LeFrak and Ken Moelis.