CYBG PLC agreed to buy Virgin Money Holdings UK PLC for about ￡1.7 billion (US$2.3 billion) in an all-stock transaction, creating a bank with about 6 million customers to challenge Britain’s largest lenders.
The purchase of the Richard Branson-backed bank gives consumer and business lender CYBG greater scale, potential cost savings and access to the firm’s presence on the high street.
The deal adds to a number of transactions among a handful of smaller banks in the UK as they seek to raise funds and steal business from the nation’s top lenders.
The combined company would have about ￡80 billion of assets, a statement yesterday said.
Virgin Money’s shares rose 2.4 percent to ￡3.634 as of 8:08am in London.
Through Friday’s close, the stock had gained about 14 percent since CYBG, formerly the British division of National Australia Bank Ltd, initially made an offer last month.
It slightly sweetened its all-stock proposal earlier this month by offering Virgin Money shareholders more of the merged company.
“Combining these two businesses has much strategic logic, in our view, with CYBG bringing strengths in SME [small and medium enterprises] banking and current accounts, complementing Virgin Money’s well-recognized brand and strength in credit cards,” Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood said in a note to investors.
Virgin Money shareholders would receive 1.2125 new CYBG shares under the offer. Owners of the Branson company would own about 38 percent of the combined group.
The tie-up is expected to generate ￡120 million of annual pre-tax cost synergies by the end of the financial year ending September 2021, the statement said.
CYBG chairman Jim Pettigrew, CEO David Duffy and chief financial officer Ian Smith would retain their current positions in the new group, according to the statement.
Virgin Money CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia would stay on as an adviser for an unspecified time.
“By combining two of the UK’s leading challenger banks, we will create a national, full-service bank with the capabilities needed to compete effectively with the large incumbent banks,” Duffy said in the statement.
“The strategic rationale is clear and offers both sets of shareholders real value, material earnings accretion and enhanced capital generation,” Duffy added.
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