The Co-operative bank is reportedly the frontrunner in the bidding process for the £650 million mortgage loan book of supermarket chain Sainsbury's, heralding a turnaround in the fortunes of the once distressed lender.
The Co-operative Bank, which is owned by owned by a syndicate of private equity firms and hedge funds, has twice come close to collapse in the past decade.
It is one a number of bidders for the loan book, after Sainsbury's announced its withdrawal from the market in 2019.
According to Sky News, one insider said on Tuesday that the former mutually owned lender appeared to be the frontrunner in the process, which is being run by advisers at Deloitte.
Sainsbury's exit from the mortgage market marks the beginning of a staged retreat by UK supermarkets from the banking sector. Yesterday it emerged that Sainsbury's rival Tesco is looking to offload its banking offshoot in a sale that could fetch it £1 billion.