Shareholders in the Co-operative Bank are examining ways to buy the remaining 20%, which the main group that spans, grocery, insurance and funeral services considers strategically non-core.
A report in The Times this morning suggests several American hedge funds are looking at making an offer to the group, which would mean a future sale or merger with one of the UK’s burgeoning challenger banks.
According to Co-op Group accounts, the mutual values its Co-op Bank holding at £224 m.
Under an agreement struck at the time of the Co-op Bank’s bondholder bailout, if the Co-op Group stake fell below 20%, the lender would lose the automatic right to use its former parent’s brand name.
One Times’ source source named TSB, bought this year by Spanish Banking Group Sabadell Bank, as a possible challenger bank it would approach for sales talks.
Co-op Bank declined to comment.
