Metro Bank shares jump on soft float, despite earlier fears over market volatility forced the bank to downgrade its share price
Metro Bank shares have jumped by 7.5 per cent since their so-called introduction to the London Stock Exchange this morning.
The bank had lowered its share price to £20 from £24 previously due to market volatility and a sell off of banking stocks since the beginning of the year. Prices have now mostly recovered however.
Metro Bank’s unconventional stock market float meant that it was introduced to the market this morning, only available to institutional investors ahead of full listing on Thursday.
Existing shareholders, of which Metro boasted around 400 with no one having more than a 10 per cent stake, were offered the chance to cash out of their investment by Thursday last week. The bank raised £400m from the listing.
The £1.6bn valuation of the bank will see it jump directly into the FTSE 250 index later this year.
The high valuation, around twice the fledgling bank's book value, has raised eyebrows following the sale of TSB to Spain's Banco Sabadell last year valued it around one times its book value.