#shawbrook

New Post has been published on http://www.newsfrombanks.com/british-challenger-bank-shawbrook-valued-at-1-billion-in-ipo.html

British Challenger Bank Shawbrook Valued at $1 Billion in IPO

The Shawbrook Group, the latest challenger to Britain’s traditional banks to go public, said on Wednesday that it has priced its initial public offering, valuing the company at 725 million pounds, or about $ 1 billion.

Shawbrook priced its offering at 290 pence a share. The company sold about 30 percent of its capital in the offering of 75 million shares.

Shares of Shawbrook rose 4.5 percent to 303 pence in conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. The stock will begin unconditional trading on April 8.

The lender could sell an additional 11.3 million shares if an overallotment of shares is fully exercised.

“We look forward to the next stage of our journey as Shawbrook continues to deliver on its strategy to become an increasingly well-known name in the specialist world of British banking,” Richard Pyman, the Shawbrook chief executive said in a news release.

Shawbrook expects to raise gross proceeds of £90 million in the offering. The bank is majority owned by the private equity fund Pollen Street Capital, which will continue to own 59 percent of its shares after the I.P.O.

Founded in 2011, Shawbrook is considered a challenger to the larger, more traditional lenders that dominate the banking landscape in Britain. It is the latest of several challenger banks to go public since last year.

OneSavings Bank, which was backed by the private equity firm J. C. Flowers & Company, listed its shares in London in June, and Virgin Money, the British financial services company partly owned by the billionaire Richard Branson, priced its I.P.O. in November.

The Aldermore Group, an online bank in Britain, priced its offering in March.

Shawbrook focuses on lending to homeowners and small and medium-size businesses. It has about 460 employees.

As of December 2013, the bank had £1.46 billion in deposits and total loans of £1.35 billion. It posted a pretax profit of £16.8 million in 2013.

The bank, which hasn’t posted its 2014 financial results, said it had total lending of more than £2.3 billion and more than £2.4 billion in deposits in 2014.

New Post has been published on http://www.newsfrombanks.com/challenger-bank-shawbrook-valued-at-725m.html

Challenger bank Shawbrook valued at £725m

©Bloomberg

Shawbrook, the specialist lender, is making its debut on the market in a move that values the Essex-based bank at £725m.

Shares in the challenger bank, which focuses on lending to small and medium-sized businesses, were priced at 290p on Wednesday, towards the upper end of the original 255p-305p range set last week.

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However, demand for the shares saw the range narrow to 280p-300p on Monday, according to people familiar with the situation.

The listing comes only a couple of weeks after rival lender Aldermore floated, with shares in the bank soaring 10 per cent half an hour after trading started.

Shawbrook is one of a number of smaller banks established to fill the void left by high street lenders in providing finance to SMEs, and its listing follows the flotations of Virgin Money, OneSavings and TSB last year.

The offer, which comprises 75m ordinary shares representing 30 per cent of the company, is aimed at raising £90m to help fuel the bank’s growth and capital buffers. The bank will have a market value upon listing of £725m.

Richard Pyman, the bank’s chief executive, said: “Our focus remains on providing UK customers with a fresh, pragmatic approach to lending and savings whilst driving further growth by maximising opportunities in existing markets, capitalising on the embedded growth in our current loan book and developing a range of products to facilitate expansion into adjacent segments.”

Shawbrook is majority owned by Pollen Street Capital, a private equity fund in which Royal Bank of Scotland previously invested. Following the bank’s flotation, the fund will retain its 59 per cent stake subject to a 180 day lock-up period.

Pollen Street Capital and directors of Shawbrook will sell a portion of their holdings when the bank floats, along with the sale of new shares to institutional investors.

The bank is also eyeing a “modest” maiden dividend in respect of 2016, which it plans to increase to 30 per cent of post-tax profits the following year.

Sir George Mathewson, chairman of the bank and former chief executive of RBS, will step down after the bank has listed and once a suitable successor has been found, the lender said.

Scottish grandee Sir Brian Ivory has also recently stepped down from his role on the board.

Last year, the bank grew its loan book by £900m to £2.3bn, helping to generate underlying profits before tax of £49.1m.

Shawbrook operates in five lending divisions, comprising commercial mortgages, asset finance, business credit, secured lending and consumer loans.

New Post has been published on http://www.newsfrombanks.com/challenger-bank-shawbrook-fetches-725m-valuation-on-ipo.html

Challenger bank Shawbrook fetches £725m valuation on IPO

Shawbrook has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 290 pence per share to value the challenger bank at £725m.

The price is near the top end of its 255 to 305 pence range and will raise £90m through the sale of 75m shares.

Richard Pyman, chief executive, said he was “delighted” by the investor repsonse. Shawbrook plans to use the proceeds to strengthen the bank’s balance sheet and to fund growth, with expansion into new sectors of the UK business lending market.

Shares in the bank climbed as much as 6.5pc on their debut to hit 308.75p and were trading up 4.5pc at 303p at around 9am in London.

The bank targets loans to small and medium sized businesses who are finding it difficult to get finance from the major high street banks.

Set up in 2011, the company lends to more than 60,000 SMEs and consumers in the UK.

Customer loans rose by 70pc last year to £2.3bn, driven by £1.4bn of new loans as UK businesses and consumers become more confident about trying new lenders.

The bank made a pre-tax profit of £49.1m in 2014, up from £16.8m in 2013 and after a loss of £7.1m in 2012.

Shawbrook’s stock market debut comes less than a month after Aldermore, another new bank, performed strongly on its stock market debut.

Shares listed at 192p on Tuesday, near the top of its pricing range.

Aldermore was forced to pull its initial plans to float five months ago when the stock market took a turn for the worse amid turmoil in the Middle East, the Ebola virus and fears of a triple-dip recession in the eurozone.

Virgin Money, TSB and OneSavings Bank are other challenger banks that have listed this year.

Shawz Online Brook’s website looks strikingly similar to that of the real Shawbrook and has also used bank’s logo.