UK's Metro Bank up for sale as part of strategic review

LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Britain's Metro Bank on Thursday put itself up for sale as part of a strategic review, opening the door to a potential takeover after a years-long drive to change its fortunes.

The bank, which had a market capitalization of £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) as of Wednesday's close, said it was not in active discussions with any potential bidder and had not received any offer.

Shares in the company were up 3% in early trading.

Colombian billionaire Jaime Gilinski Bacal owns a majority stake in the bank after participating in an equity recapitalisation of the bank three years ago.

Reuters reported last year that Gilinski was open to selling his stake and around that time had received interest from investors.

The move comes after multi-year turnaround efforts at the bank, which included cost cuts, acceleration into higher-return lending for companies and offering specialist mortgages.

($1 = 0.7543 pounds)

(Reporting by Rishab Shaju and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru, Iain Withers and Muvija M in London; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Tomasz Janowski)