Gartmore Group, a traditional equity and alternative asset management firm, has priced its initial public offering of ordinary shares at 220 pence per share.
Based upon the offer price, the market capitalisation of Gartmore at the commencement of conditional dealings will be approximately GBP676m.
The offer consists of 127.3 million new ordinary shares and 27.3 million existing ordinary shares (prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option), in total representing in aggregate 50.3 per cent of 307.3 million ordinary shares in issue.
As stabilising manager, UBS has been granted an over-allotment option by certain selling shareholders of up to 23.2 million ordinary shares, representing 15 per cent of the ordinary shares in the global offer exercisable for a period of 30 calendar days.
The net proceeds of the primary offer of approximately GBP268m, together with a portion of existing surplus cash resources of Gartmore and its consolidated subsidiaries, will be applied to repay approximately GBP315m of the group’s debt.
Following admission, Gartmore’s directors, employees and their related interests will continue to hold approximately 19.1 per cent of the company’s ordinary shares (which are subject to various lock-in arrangements) as described in the prospectus and updated by the supplementary prospectus and supplemented by the pricing statement.
Conditional dealings are expected to commence on the London Stock Exchange at 8am on 14 December 2009 under the ticker symbol GRT. Admission to the official list of the FSA and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange and the commencement of unconditional dealings is expected to take place at 8am on 16 December 2009.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank are acting as joint global co-ordinators, joint bookrunners and joint sponsors in relation to the global offer. Citi is acting as joint bookrunner and Fox-Pitt Kelton is acting as co-lead manager.
Jeffrey Meyer, Gartmore’s chief executive officer, says: "The IPO represents the logical next step in the development of Gartmore. I am delighted to welcome our new investors and I look forward to working for all shareholders and delivering on our strategy for further growth."
