Co-op Bank upbeat over bids after its writedown

The beleaguered Co-op Bank has insisted there are serious bidders for its assets, one day after the wider Co-op Group wrote down its stake in the business to zero.

The bank said it has “received a number of non-binding proposals from strategic and financial parties” and will move to “stage 2” of the sale.

The self-styled “ethical” bank was rescued from collapse in 2013 by Wall Street hedge funds. The Co-op Group yesterday said it regarded its 20% holding as worthless.

The Bank said all the offers include “some form of liability management exercise”. This is likely to mean the bidders won’t pay off Co-op bonds, some of which are already trading at 20p in the pound.

The Bank has to repay £400 million in September and has said it needs a capital injection of £300 million.

Rumoured “strategic” bidders include the Clydesdale and Virgin Money. The Co-op Bank has 4.1 million customers who have stuck with the bank despite its problems.

It ran into problems after merging with the Britannia building society in 2009 and acquiring billions in bad loans in the process.