Metro Bank plunges on talk of big fundraising to fix finances. Following news that the British lender was looking into possibilities to raise as much as 600 million pounds ($728 million) in debt and stock to strengthen its finances, Metro Bank (MTRO.L) shares fell more than 25% on Thursday.

Since mid-February, the bank’s stock has lost approximately two-thirds of its value. The lender was valued at 87 million pounds as of Wednesday’s closure, down from 15.5 billion pounds at the end of June.

Three individuals who know the situation told Reuters on Wednesday that the fundraising might entail more than 100 million pounds from selling shares to increase capital.

In a statement on Thursday, Metro said it was weighing its options, had satisfied its minimal capital needs, and had not yet decided how it would raise money. “The company is evaluating the merits of a range of options, including a combination of equity issuance, debt issuance and refinancing, and asset sales,” it stated. On Thursday, the bank’s stock fell as high as 29.4%, resulting in two temporary trade halts. At 08:19 GMT, they were last down 24.8%.

According to MarketAxess, a 350 million bond with a 2025 maturity date also experienced a significant decline, falling by almost seven pence on the pound from Wednesday’s closing.

The bank’s prospects did not persuade all observers. Gary Greenwood, a banking analyst at Shore Capital, wrote in a note that supporting a fresh capital raising for this troubled bank would be like “throwing good money after bad,” in his opinion. Therefore, it may be wiser for investors and bondholders to put their money elsewhere. According to the reports, Metro Bank has hired Morgan Stanley as an advisor.

Since its IPO in 2016, the institution, founded to compete with the hegemony of Britain’s biggest lenders, has had several difficulties. The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the company’s main regulator, signaled last month that it was unlikely to let the lender employ its internal risk models for some mortgages, which caused its shares to decline.

If Metro Bank cannot utilize its models, it will be subject to greater capital requirements imposed by the regulator, hurting the stock. On Thursday, the PRA declined to comment.

Following a misreporting of its risk-weighted assets due to an accounting error that alarmed investors and authorities and destroyed hundreds of millions of pounds off its market value, Metro Bank was also obliged to increase shareholder equity in 2019.

According to a statement from Metro Bank in September, “The board retains conviction in the merits of Metro Bank’s customer-centric model and strongly believes that there is a significant opportunity set that the company can capitalize on.”