The bank offers mortgages for professional landlords, property investors, and individual homeowners with more complex income and credit profiles, as well as motor finance

Shawbrook has announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, in a move that could value the specialist lender at £2 billion, which would make it the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in London this year.

The bank, founded in 2011, offers mortgages for professional landlords, property investors, and individual homeowners with more complex income and credit profiles, as well as motor finance.

It is backed by private equity groups BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital.

Retail mortgages are largely run through its Bluestone Mortgages and The Mortgage Lender brands, which merged sales teams in April.

The lender says an IPO would allow it “access to a wider range of potential sources of capital,” which would “support its ambitious growth plans”.

It states that since 2011, it has grown its loan book from around £100 million to £17 billion as of 30 June.

The group has a ‘30 by 30 target’, which means that it aims to boost its loan book to around £30 billion by the end of 2030.

The bank’s commercial arm, which includes real estate and small business lending, has a loan book currently at £10.5 billion, accounting for 61% of its business.

Its retail arm, which includes its retail mortgage brands and consumer finance, has a £6.6 billion loan book, amounting to 39% of its lending.

Shawbrook chief executive Marcelino Castrillo says: We have achieved real scale, and our current markets are large and growing, supported by attractive tailwinds.

We also see a significant opportunity to bring Shawbrook’s offering to new types of customers, Castrillo says.

The bank was previously listed in London, but went private after a consortium led by BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital acquired the firm in 2017 in a deal valued at £861 million.