The planned sale of a council’s £30m stake in a bank has fallen though, the authority confirmed.
Warrington Council bought a third share of Redwood Bank in 2017 and said earlier this year it had agreed to sell its share at a “substantial financial loss”. It has now said this sale has collapsed, because of “macroeconomic conditions”.
Warrington Council built up £1.8bn of debt linked to its investment strategy in recent years, which led to the government appointing ministerial envoys to work with the authority last year.
The authority said it has received a further offer for its shares in the bank, from a third party not linked to the original bid.
In a report to the council’s cabinet ahead of a meeting on Monday (27 July), it said the offer would be “confirmed through due diligence” but no more details have been provided.
The report said the council had already incurred “significant costs” on matters relating to the sale, and that there would be “new and significant costs” linked to a new offer.
It said the costs relating to the sale are “non-recoverable” and would “add to the cumulative losses recognised against this investment”.
Ministerial envoys were appointed in July 2025 because of concerns around its commercial investments and levels of debt it had built up.
A report from the envoys earlier this year said the council’s debt had fallen to around £1.4bn, but that its investment strategy had led to its losing £100m.
