(22 September 2022 – United Kingdom) London-listed asset manager Jupiter is finalising the sale of a stake in Starling Bank at a significant discount to its most recent valuation of £2.5 billion.
Established by Anne Boden in 2014, the group’s profitability is expected to improve significantly during the upcoming phase of rising interest rates. The group is working on several major contracts for its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) subsidiary “Engine”. Ms Boden and Engine executives travelled to Australia recently to negotiate deals.
Since launching its app in 2017, the Bank has opened almost 3 million accounts, including more than 450,000 SME business accounts, giving Starling a 7.5 percent share of the United Kingdom (UK) small business banking market. Starling has been heavily criticsed by former Treasury Minister Lord Agnew regarding the group’s deployment of taxpayer-backed COVID loans after the Bank switched focus from purely retail banking to also extending government-backed business lending.
“Starling has been one of the best performing assets in the Jupiter UK Mid-Cap portfolio. We actively and prudently manage out investments and a sale of our stake would realise a healthy return for clients which can be recycled into new investment opportunities” Jupiter said in a statement.