Buyout shops study rescue of Co-op Bank

However, the source told sister news service Reuters that no serious discussions have occurred between the British lender and Corsair about the private equity firm buying a stake in it.

Co-op Bank nearly collapsed last year after the discovery of a 1.5 billion pound hole in its balance sheet and had to be rescued by bondholders, a move that drastically reduced the stake of its former owner, Co-operative Group.

Sky News, which earlier reported the talks with Corsair, also said that Apollo Global Management had expressed an interest in Co-op Bank.

“In the next few business days we will make an announcement on the capital raise. Until then we are not making any formal announcements,” a spokesman for Co-op Bank told Reuters.

The report came on the same day as a review of the Co-op Group by former director Paul Myners was published. The review said the organization should restructure its current ”manifestly dysfunctional” board and make it smaller with more members with business experience.

Tasim Zahid and Paritosh Bansal are correspondents for Reuters in Bangalore and New York, respectively.