Move by specialist mortgage lender owner could add substantial liquidity into non-standard property lending sector
The City’s subdued listings market has received a welcome jolt as Shawbrook Group, the £17 billion specialist business and property lender, confirmed its plan to return to the London Stock Exchange with a flotation expected to value the bank at up to £2 billion.
The Essex-based institution, which caters chiefly to small and mid-sized enterprises and specialist mortgage customers, filed its intention-to-float document on Monday. The listing, one of the largest mooted in more than a year, would see the company place at least £200 million of shares and deliver a minimum 10 per cent free float on London’s main market.
Capital and continuity
The offering will comprise both new equity, to fund the bank’s expansion, and a partial sale of shares by its long-time private-equity owners BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital. The move follows Shawbrook’s earlier spell as a quoted company between 2015 and 2017, when it was taken private in an £868 million buyout.
Chief executive Marcelino Castrillo said the bank had opted for a domestic listing because “it’s a natural place for us to list.” He added that London’s capital markets provided the “deep capital pools” needed to sustain its ambitions.
Castrillo described the flotation as a milestone for a business that began life in 2011 from the re-engineered shell of Whiteaway Laidlaw Bank. Since then, Shawbrook has completed more than 30 acquisitions, most recently the purchase of ThinCats, a small-business lending platform, and Bluestone Mortgages in 2023.
Ambitions for growth
According to chief financial officer Dylan Minto, the injection of new funds will underpin future expansion and bolster the group’s capital position. Castrillo set out plans to almost double the loan book to £30 billion by 2030 and to deliver “mid to high teens” growth in underlying pre-tax profits.
He said: “The entrepreneurial spirit that has driven our growth remains at the heart of how we operate and we have ambitious plans for the future.”
The bank’s medium-term guidance targets low double-digit annual loan growth, supported by an “agile” approach to both organic development and acquisition. “IPOing will give us more access to capital for growth which will include the very disciplined M&A we have done in the past,” Castrillo said.
Confidence returns to London
For the City’s advisers, the news represents a long-awaited revival in deal flow. London’s IPO pipeline has been thin since 2022, with just a handful of mid-sized floats. Shawbrook’s move follows the recent listings of Beauty Tech Group and US-based Fermi Energy, feeding hopes that the capital’s equity markets may be stirring after a prolonged lull.
Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Ardea Partners, KBW, UBS and Deutsche Numis are acting as advisers and bookrunners on the transaction. A retail component will run alongside the institutional sale via the RetailBook platform, giving wealth-management clients and individual investors a chance to participate.
Implications for mortgage professionals
For lenders and brokers, Shawbrook’s return to the public markets signals renewed confidence in the specialist and non-standard mortgage sector. The bank has grown into a leading name in complex buy-to-let, bridging and SME real-estate finance, areas often underserved by mainstream high-street lenders.
Its planned capital raise should support further lending capacity, potentially increasing liquidity across specialist mortgage channels at a time when risk appetite among traditional lenders remains subdued. Analysts expect the listing to provide additional funding flexibility for Shawbrook’s broker partners and intermediary network, particularly in niche commercial property and portfolio landlord segments.
A test for London’s IPO appetite
If successful, the float could mark one of the year’s defining moments for London’s markets. Investors and bankers alike will be watching closely to see whether a UK-focused challenger bank can attract meaningful support from both institutions and retail investors.
Castrillo insists the timing is deliberate rather than opportunistic: “Now is the right time... definitely not a decision we’re rushing into.”
Should the deal proceed smoothly, Shawbrook’s return would not only inject momentum into a flagging listings scene but also underline the resilience of the UK’s specialist-lending model—an increasingly vital segment of the mortgage ecosystem
