Atom Bank sale may be halted after weak bids – report

The effort to merchantability Atom Bank is adjacent to being abandoned aft the process failed to nutrient offers matching the £600m valuation sought by its shareholders, reported The Financial Times.

Sources told the work that investors successful the Newcastle lender, among them BBVA of Spain and plus manager Toscafund, are weighing whether to halt the merchantability due to the fact that purchaser involvement has been limited.

Pollen Street Capital submitted an connection for Atom, but the connection was beneath the terms expected by sellers, the aforesaid radical said.

They added that a materially higher bid from Pollen Street was not expected.

Had Pollen Street succeeded, the woody could person led to Atom being combined with Tandem, a abstracted integer slope already nether its ownership.

If the merchantability does not proceed, unit is apt to turn connected Atom's leadership. Two radical acquainted with the discussions said immoderate shareholders would question absorption changes if nary purchaser emerged.

Those changes could widen to main enforcement Mark Mullen, who has been successful complaint for 12 years, the study said.

The sources added that Yorkshire Building Society and Leeds Building Society besides looked astatine imaginable offers for Atom, which serves 250,000 customers, but chose not to instrumentality matters further.

Several different banks besides examined the concern and decided against bidding.

Atom, founded successful 2014, employs 600 radical and was 1 of the archetypal UK app-based banks to run without branches.

The effort to unafraid a £600m valuation follows a fundraising past twelvemonth that valued the concern astatine £350m, compared with £459m successful 2022.

Since 2021, the institution has allowed employees to enactment a four-day week connected afloat pay. Its past shareholder basal besides included Neil Woodford done Woodford Investment Management.

Atom had earlier planned to question a banal marketplace listing but delayed that way respective times earlier turning alternatively to a sale.

"Atom Bank merchantability whitethorn beryllium halted aft anemic bids – study " was primitively created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.