By Mark Kleinman, City Editor
One of the fastest-growing lenders to small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) is poised to accelerate plans for a stock market listing in the wake of fresh Government support for the sector.
Sky News has learnt that Shawbrook, which was set up in 2011 to take advantage of declining SME lending by the major high street banks, has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs to prepare a public flotation.
The listing is expected to take place during the course of 2015, and could see Sir George Mathewson, the former chairman and chief executive, return to the helm of a listed company.
Sir George, 74, is Shawbrook's chairman, and he and the bank's board are understood to be open-minded about whether he will remain in the role through the process of a flotation.
Shawbrook's prospects as a public company are likely to be boosted by the announcement on Wednesday that the Funding for Lending Scheme overseen by the Treasury and Bank of England is to be extended and refocused towards SME lending.
George Osborne, the Chancellor, also said on Wednesday that the Government's Business Bank would receive additional investment.
Shawbrook said in September that it had grown total lending during the first half of the year by 91% compared to the same period in 2013.
It specialises in areas such as commercial mortgages and asset finance, and funds its lending activities from retail deposits.
The bank is majority-owned by Pollen Street Capital, an investment vehicle previously owned by RBS.
The taxpayer-backed lender remains an investor in Pollen Street's fund but has no role in its management or strategy.
Shawbrook is expected to be valued at several hundred million pounds if it goes public, which would potentially coincide with share offerings by a number of other so-called 'challenger banks'.
Virgin Money recently revived plans for a listing, while Aldermore shelved its flotation following stock market volatility in October.
Metro Bank has signalled to its shareholders that it is likely to pursue a public offering by the end of 2016.
Last year, Shawbrook brought in external investors for the first time, recruiting CarVal, another investment vehicle, through the issuance of new debt.
Announcing half-year results in September, Richard Pyman, Shawbrook's chief executive, said:
"We continue to see strong demand from credit-worthy SMEs and individual customers who are seeking a straight-forward, quality relationship with their bank.
"Our focus on specialist teams and a human approach to decision making to deliver excellent customer service has enabled us to grow our lending to small businesses by £685m in the twelve months to June 2014."
Shawbrook and Pollen Street Capital declined to comment on the appointment of BAML and Goldman.
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