PhillyDeals: PhillyDeals: Hill's next project is British bank

C

ommerce Bank

founder

Vernon W. Hill II

has teamed up with a British marketing veteran,

Anthony Thomson

, to organize a new lender,

Metro Bank

, and to challenge Britain's established lenders.

Hill, who does business as Hill & Co. from a Mount Laurel office near the old Commerce executive suite he was ousted from last year, said he could not comment on the plan "because we're in the quiet period." The London Telegraph leaked details Sunday.

Metro Bank, pitched by Wall Street bank brokerage KBW Inc. to potential investors, calls for an investment of 100 million pounds ($186 million).

The business plan includes some familiar Commerce features: seven-day banking; quick service; a focus on consumers and small businesses; opening an average of 20 branches a year, mostly in suburban "high-street" shopping districts.

One difference: Metro doesn't expect to be able to find many drive-through locations, common in suburban New Jersey and Pennsylvania but almost unknown in crowded Britain.

Will Hill drive Barclays P.L.C. and other U.K. giants to the wall? Commerce took Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank by surprise and grew rapidly in New York when it entered that market in 2001, but got less initial traction near Washington more recently, where Wachovia Corp., Bank of America Corp. and PNC Financial Services Group extended hours and improved service in anticipation of Commerce tactics.

In the United Kingdom, one of Metro Bank's giant competitors will be the Royal Bank of Scotland Group P.L.C., which competes in Philadelphia and other markets through its U.S. subsidiary, Citizens Bank.

Since leaving Commerce (now part of Canada's TD Bank Financial Group), Hill has also backed Philadelphia-based Republic First Bancorp Inc. and SaladWorks Inc., among other businesses.

Center City Philadelphia and proposed towers like the supertall

American Commerce Center

have been suggested as a possible U.S. base for TD Bank Financial Group, which has acquired a string of big U.S. financial institutions, including

TD Banknorth Inc.

, of Portland, Maine;

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.

, based in Jersey City and Omaha, and, most recently, Commerce Bancorp Inc.

TD is no stranger to soaring architecture. Its six-building Toronto headquarters and

Toronto Dominion Bank Tower

were designed by celebrity architect Ludwig Mies van der

Rohe.

But TD, like its rivals in Philadelphia - Wachovia, PNC, Citizens - has so far shown a preference for legacy office space in existing buildings.

"As we said many times, we'll continue to have both executives and a significant employee base in both Portland and at our extensive [former Commerce] campus in the Mount Laurel-Cherry Hill area," TD spokesman Neil Parmenter said.

"The climate's really difficult now," said American Commerce Center promoter Joseph Grasso.

Developer

Brian O'Neill

is a busy man. Two weeks ago, he rushed to his

Riverwalk at Millennium

development in Conshohocken as 130 apartments burned. Later this week, he is expected to announce details of the $215 million, state-funded new

Philadelphia Regional Produce Center

in Southwest Philly.

Yesterday, O'Neill announced another plan, for a hotel, theater, restaurants and stores accounting for 478,000 square feet on 66 acres, which he is calling Sanatoga Springs, in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, in the busy U.S. 422 corridor. He'll be next to Simon Property Group Inc.'s 555,000-square-foot Philadelphia Premium Outlets.

"It's just sketch plans, so far," said Limerick Township Manager Dan Kerr. "There was some talk about possible apartments, but it wasn't on the last plan we've seen."

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.

says it has hired the

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

for financial advice, but that doesn't mean MGM is for sale.

"There is no 'asking price.' MGM shareholders - including Providence Equity Partners Inc., TGP Capital, Sony Corp. of America and Comcast Corp. - are pleased with the company's current momentum and committed to the future growth of the studio," the movie studio and film-library company said yesterday.

That's to rebut a report in the New York Post, which said Goldman Sachs was offering MGM for sale at $5.2 billion.