Shawbrook Bank

Shawbrook Bank Limited is a British retail and commercial bank based in the United Kingdom. Its parent company, Shawbrook Group plc, is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[2]

History

The bank has its origins in a department store chain, Whiteaway Laidlaw, which operated mainly in Asia and was established in 1877.[3] Great Universal Stores bought the store chain in 1957.[4]

The store chain included several finance arms including Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank which offered banking facilities to small businesses and personal customers and was incorporated as a separate company in February 1988.[5]

Home Retail Group inherited the bank on its demerger from GUS in July 2006[6] and then sold it to Manchester Building Society in March 2007.[7]

In February 2011, private investors led by RBS Equity Finance, which was later spun off from the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and became Pollen Street Capital, bought Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank.[8] Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank rebranded as Shawbrook Bank in October 2011.[9]

Singers Asset Finance was acquired in March 2012 and then rebranded as Shawbrook Asset Finance in March 2013.[10] The bank acquired asset based lender Centric Commercial Finance in June 2014 and subsequently rebranded it as Shawbrook Business Credit.[11] The bank was the subject of an initial public offering in April 2015,[12] raising £90 million of cash to support the capital position and future growth.[13]

A consortium led by BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital acquired the business for £868 million in July 2017.[14]

In June 2023, Shawbrook completed the acquisition of specialist lender Bluestone Mortgages Limited (BML) from Bluestone Investment Holdings.[15]

In October 2023, it was revealed that Shawbrook had made a number of unsuccessful takeover offers for Metro Bank prior to that bank's successful capital raise on 8 October.[16] At the same time it was also revealed that Shawbrook had made an offer for Co-op Bank.[17] Co-op Bank had reportedly been looking for a buyer since April 2023, with a deadline set for early October 2023.[18]

In October 2025, Shawbrook announced plans to list a minimum of £200 million worth of shares on the London Stock Exchange.[19] It was the subject of a new initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange on 30 October 2025.[20]

Operations

The bank offers loans to small and medium-sized businesses that are unable to obtain finance from the main commercial banks.[12]

External links