A specialist financial institution headed by the trade veteran who additionally chairs Metro Bank is to be put up on the market by its non-public fairness backers.

Sky News has learnt that Alchemy Partners, the funding agency, is speaking to bankers about launching an public sale of Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) within the coming months.

Alchemy took management of the lender in 2014, and has steadily grown the enterprise via a concentrate on niches reminiscent of lending to fund basic automotive purchases.

A sale might draw curiosity from non-public fairness companies with a pedigree within the monetary companies sector and different mid-sized banks.

The valuation that Alchemy would hope to draw in a sale was unclear on Friday.

HTB additionally supplies specialist mortgages and improvement finance to shoppers.

The firm is chaired by Robert Sharpe, a banking trade determine who has held roles at quite a few lenders.

Its chief govt is Matthew Wyles, a former Nationwide govt.

In 2021, it purchased Wesleyan Bank, a part of the broader monetary companies mutual of the identical title, for an undisclosed sum.

Alchemy declined to remark, though an individual near it mentioned "no decisions have been made".

Content Source: information.sky.com