Slaughters leads on Shawbrook’s £2bn London IPO

Slaughters, Cravath, Kirkland and Linklaters have landed roles on the London IPO of Shawbrook Bank - in what could become the City’s largest listing of the year.

The specialist lender, backed by private equity firms BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital, confirmed its intention to float on Monday (6 October). The lender could be valued at £2 billion, according to reports.

London optimism

Founded in 2011, UK digital banking platform Shawbrook lends to small and medium-sized businesses.

It previously floated in 2015 with a £725 million valuation (Slaughters also led that one, alongside Paul Weiss on US law), before being taken private two years later by Linklaters-advised Pollen Street and BC Partners, which each continue to hold a 50% stake.

The deal adds to a flurry of activity that has revived optimism in London’s public markets after a historically slow start to 2025. Last week saw the £300 million IPO of The Beauty Tech Group and the $13.8 billion dual Nasdaq-London debut of energy and AI infrastructure group Fermi, while food producer Princes filed its intention to float on Friday (3 October).

Advising

Slaughter and May is advising Shawbrook, led by corporate partners Christian Boney and Warwick Brennand. They are assisted by a wider team including finance partner Guy O’Keefe, tax partner Dominic Robertson, pensions, employment and incentives partner Philip Linnard and financial regulation partner Jan Putnis.

Slaughters is working alongside New York firm Cravath which is advising Shawbrook on US aspects.

Kirkland & Ellis is advising BC Partners, led by corporate partners David Higgins and Victoria Legg.

Linklaters is advising the banks underwriting the float, led by ECM partners Pam Shores and James Wootton.