Historic Name

The British Linen name has a history in merchant banking spanning more than 250 years, pre-dating the formation of The London Stock Exchange.

The British Linen Company was founded in Scotland in 1746 to assist linen merchants to develop their businesses internationally through quality advice and access to finance. The company received a Royal Charter enabling it officially to be called ‘British’, an appellation whose utilisation is still restricted to this day. The company prospered, changing its name to British Linen Bank in 1906, and diversified beyond the textiles sector to provide finance and advice to a broad range of growing businesses.

The British Linen Bank was acquired by the Bank of Scotland in 1971 and was re-launched as its own merchant bank in 1977. Towards the end of 1999, the balance sheet activities of British Linen Bank were amalgamated into the Bank of Scotland.

In February 2000, British Linen Advisers was created through the acquisition of the corporate finance operations from the Bank of Scotland, re-establishing it as a truly independent corporate adviser. Since then a number of like-minded directors and executives have joined the team.

British Linen Advisers is proud of the link that the name provides to a history of quality merchant banking advice.