The user credit rating huge in the aid of the Argos and John Lewis retailer cards is kicking off preparations for a sale or inventory market itemizing that can also cost it at more than £1.7bn.

Sky News has learnt that NewDay Community, which is owned by the deepest fairness companies Cinven and CVC Capital Partners, is lining up funding bankers at Barclays to repeat on a job.

The plans are at a truly preliminary stage, without an organization timetable in deliver but for any transaction, in accordance with insiders.

NewDay is one of Britain’s greatest privately held suppliers of user credit rating services and products, with about 4m customers.

It no longer too lengthy ago struck a £720m deal to possess the Argos-branded retailer card portfolio as half of grocery store chain J Sainsbury’s exit from its banking operations.

The transaction is anticipated to raise NewDay’s earnings, making it more shining to doable investors and inventory market merchants, an insider acknowledged on Thursday.

NewDay is chaired by Sir Mike Rake, the pale deputy chairman of Barclays, and urge by John Hourican, the pale Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Cyprus govt.

Its regulated product portfolio entails notify-to-user credit rating cards, including Bip, the UK’s first digital simplest bank card.

The firm also has a string of merchant partnerships offering digital level-of-sale credit rating corresponding to Aquire Now Pay Later and instalment finance products.

As half of the Argos deal, NewDay struck an settlement to compose a new Argos-branded digital credit rating proposition, which can replace the contemporary card credit rating and retailer card products.

Mr Hourican acknowledged: “That is a broad different to forge a partnership with one of the UK’s leading stores as successfully as flee the enhance of our credit rating substitute, in accordance with our strategic objectives.”

One banker acknowledged NewDay’s sturdy monetary efficiency and resilience in an risky economic native weather were likely to stimulate search info from from doable merchants.

In its monetary results for final year, announced in March, it reported more than £200m in underlying pre-tax revenue.

Extra no longer too lengthy ago, it acknowledged in August that it had viewed new customer acquisition rise by 36% right by the principle half of the present monetary year, with customer arrears now standing at pre-Covid ranges.

If NewDay decides to head with the stream, a assortment of totally different banks are expected to be hired alongside Barclays, whose appointment is acknowledged to be forthcoming.

A spokesman for NewDay declined to commentary.