Jupiter Fund Management is reportedly in talks to sell its entire stake in Starling Bank just several months after the digital lender’s valuation passed £2.5bn.
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Sky News reported that Jupiter, which owns close to 10% of Starling’s equity in its UK Mid Cap Fund and elsewhere across its funds portfolio, has instructed bankers at Citi to find buyers for the holding.
An industry source close to the deal confirmed to UKTN that talks to sell Jupiter’s stake in Starling are underway. Both Starling and Jupiter declined to comment.
This comes a month after Starling, one of the UK’s fintech success stories, reported its first full year of profitability since it was founded by Anne Boden in 2014.
Starling has captured 7.5% of the small business market since launching in 2017, with more than 450,000 SME accounts.
In April, Starling Bank raised £130 million at a £2.5 billion valuation.
Dozens of prospective investors are said to have been invited to make offers for Jupiter’s Starling Bank stake as part of a price discovery process. There is said to have been “strong interest” from financial investors.
Further progress towards a deal or series of transactions is expected next month, according to insiders.
One person close to Jupiter described the sale as “active portfolio management”, and denied that it was an enforced disposal triggered by the unlisted assets threshold.
