A specialist financial institution headed by the trade veteran who additionally chairs Metro Bank is to be put up on the market by its personal fairness backers.

Sky News has learnt that Alchemy Partners, the funding agency, is speaking to bankers about launching an public sale of Hampshire Trust Bank (HTB) within the coming months.

Alchemy took management of the lender in 2014, and has steadily grown the enterprise by way of a deal with niches similar to lending to fund basic automobile purchases.

A sale could draw curiosity from personal fairness companies with a pedigree within the monetary providers sector and different mid-sized banks.

The valuation that Alchemy would hope to draw in a sale was unclear on Friday.

HTB additionally offers specialist mortgages and improvement finance to purchasers.

The firm is chaired by Robert Sharpe, a banking trade determine who has held roles at quite a few lenders.

Its chief govt is Matthew Wyles, a former Nationwide govt.

In 2021, it purchased Wesleyan Bank, a part of the broader monetary providers mutual of the identical title, for an undisclosed sum.

Alchemy declined to remark, though an individual near it stated "no decisions have been made".