Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Trump’s commerce secretary Ross plots £700m merger with UK’s Atom Bank

Trump’s commerce secretary Ross plots £700m merger with UK’s Atom Bank

A SPAC set up by the financier Wilbur Ross is proposing a deal that will see the Durham-based digital bank listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

A senior figure in Donald Trump's Cabinet is plotting a £700m deal that would see one of Britain's biggest digital-only banks being listed on the US stock market.

Sky News has learnt that a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by Wilbur Ross, who was President Trump's commerce secretary between 2017 and 2021, is in detailed talks about a merger with Durham-based Atom Bank.

Banking industry sources said this weekend that the discussions were at an advanced stage, although there was no guarantee that an agreement would be reached, particularly against the backdrop of equity markets haunted by soaring inflation and rising fears of recession.

If completed, however, a deal would make Atom Bank one of the most prominent UK-based companies to be taken public through a SPAC, joining the likes of Cazoo, the digital car-buying platform, and Vertical, the aerospace company founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick, the entrepreneur behind Ovo Energy.

Under the terms of the prospective merger, Atom Bank would agree to merge with Ross Acquisition Corp II, a SPAC which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the spring of last year, according to a banking industry insider.

The SPAC - a shell company launched with the purpose of finding an operating business to combine with - would also raise about £150m through a so-called PIPE (private investment in public equity).

Mr Ross and his other founding SPAC shareholders could choose to participate in that PIPE fundraising.

A deal would take place in one of the most volatile stock market environments for years, and after a string of SPACs have abandoned previously announced transactions or been forced to hand money back to their original investors after failing to identify a deal.

If it does announce a deal with Atom Bank, it would probably take around six months to complete.

Atom Bank Offices


In 2010, WL Ross, Mr Ross's private equity firm, snapped up a 21% stake in Virgin Money, not long before it was transformed into a major industry player by buying a big chunk of the nationalised bank Northern Rock.

WL Ross sold the last of its Virgin Money shares in 2016.

Mr Ross has been a prominent financier on Wall Street for decades, earning the nickname 'the king of bankruptcy' for his track record of buying distressed companies in the steel and coal industries and selling them for sizeable profits.

As a senior figure in the Trump administration, Mr Ross helped shape the US government's approach to ties with China - the world's most important bilateral trading relationship.

He has also been a big shareholder in Bank of Ireland and a number of US lenders.

Atom Bank has made little secret of its plans to pursue a public listing in the coming years, although it would have been expected to float in London given that its business is entirely focused on the UK.

Since being established in 2014, it has made less spectacular progress than rivals such as Monzo, Starling Bank and, in particular, Revolut, which was valued at over $30bn in a funding round last year.

Atom Bank has total customer deposits of more than £2.5bn and has announced mortgage completions of over £3bn, but has set ambitious targets for growing those figures in the coming years.

In total, it has raised about £500m in equity from investors including the Spanish bank BBVA, Toscafund and the now-dissolved Woodford Investment Management.

Last year, it attracted headlines by becoming one of the first substantial employers to switch to a four-day week.

It said the move, which included a reduction in working hours from 37 to 34 with no impact on salaries, was designed to support employees' mental and physical wellbeing, as well as to boost productivity.

Announcing a £75m funding round that valued it at £435m in February, Mark Mullen, the Atom Bank chief executive, says: "We've achieved a number of important financial milestones and maintained our excellent reputation with our customers."

"Our investors are now backing our continued growth. This capital will allow Atom to build on the progress we have made, and to keep offering financial solutions for people who want to own their own home, grow their own businesses and save for the future.

"It is also a fundamental next step on our journey toward IPO."

Responding to an emailed enquiry from Sky News, Mr Ross said his "practice has always been not to comment on rumours of transactions involving my investments".

Atom Bank declined to comment.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×