London’s new listings mini-boom gathered pace today when digital bank Shawbrook said it is planning an IPO on the main market of the stock exchange expected to value it as close to £2 billion .
Brentwood based Shawbrook said a flotation “would further enhance Shawbrook's profile and brand recognition” and help it “continue retaining and incentivising key management and employees, as well as providing Shawbrook with access to a wider range of potential sources of capital.”
The announcement is a further boost to the City after a drought of listings in the first nine months of the year that saw London slip to 23rd place in the global IPO rankings.
But last week saw a burst of activity with a dual Nasdaq and London listing from Texan energy and data centre company Fermi, an intention to float announcement from tinned tuna company Princes, and the first day of dealing from cosmetics gadgets specialist Beauty Tech.
Shawbrook was founded in 2011 and employs close to 1,600 people and has 550,000 customers. It specialises in mortgages for professional landlords, property investors, and individual homeowners “with more complex income and credit profiles”, as well as motor finance in the specialist mass market and high-end luxury segments. Its loan book has grown from £1.4 billion to £17 billion since 2014. It plans to grow its loan book to £30 billion by 2030.
CEO Marcelino Castrillo said "When Shawbrook was founded, we saw that large parts of the UK economy were unable to access the capital needed to grow. Since then, we have created a scaled and diversified banking platform, combining next generation technology with deep human expertise, that makes us uniquely placed to provide our customers with the flexibility, speed and certainty they need.
"The strength of our platform has enabled us to deliver a long track record of sustainable, profitable growth through a wide variety of macro conditions. We have transformed the size of our loan book as we've won share, entered new markets and expanded our capabilities through strategic acquisitions; we have built a trusted and attractive savings proposition that provides us with a stable and scalable funding base; and the significant investment in our digital platform provides excellent risk management capabilities and strong operating leverage.
"Looking ahead, we are as excited as we have ever been. We have achieved real scale, and our current markets are large and growing, supported by attractive tailwinds. We also see a significant opportunity to bring Shawbrook's offering to new types of customers. The entrepreneurial spirit that has driven our growth remains at the heart of how we operate and we have ambitious plans for the future. An IPO would mark an important milestone in our journey."
Lead financial advisers is Ardea Partners International with Goldman Sachs International as Sponsor, Joint Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner, Barclays as Joint Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner, and Stifel Nicolaus Europe , Deutsche Numis and UBS as joint bookrunners.
Samuel Kerr. global head of ECM, Mergermarket, said: “The news that Shawbrook is proceeding with its long-awaited IPO on the London Stock exchange, coming in the wake of Beauty-Tech Group completing its listing and Princes Group filing initial IPO paperwork last week, marks a potential turning point for London’s IPO market.
“All year there has been optimistic talk around a UK IPO revival in the wake of regulatory reform and some concerns over the direction of US regulation under the Trump administration. To see this talk come to fruition in the form of three significant IPOs will foster hope there is more to come in 2026, with all eyes on the IPO of Visma in particular, slated for next year.”
