New Star Asset Management Group Ltd., the U.K. money manager founded by John Duffield, will sell stocks and list on the Alternative Investment Market in November, according to its company spokesman. Founded in 2000, it is expected to be valued over 600 million pounds.
No fresh funds will be raised through this float. New Star has 277 employees, who along with Mr Duffield own 60 per cent of the firm. The employees are all set to bag significant profits. And more than 40 of them are likely to become paper millionaires.
The listing will allow institutional investors, who own the remaining 40 percent of the stocks, to buy and sell shares. John Duffield, whose stake is at 102 million pounds, is not going to sell any of his shares in the IPO.
UBS is the main adviser, only bookrunner and global coordinator of this public issue. Citigroup would be the joint lead manager, while Goldman Sachs, HSBC and NBF Securities would be joint financial advisors.
Assets under management in New Star stood at 15.2 billion pounds on Sept. 30, 2005. In the year ending 2004 they were at 10.7 billion pounds. This was after an increase of 51% from the year ending 2003.
New Star's external spokesman Michael Sandler said: ``The company has a strong track record and is fulfilling its promise to seek a public listing''.
New Star is trying to ride on the gains it made by posting a record first-half profit added to a discernible boom in European stock markets.
Operating profits jumped by 61 percent to 17.1 million pounds from 10.6 million pounds in the first half, while the share value jumped to 5.7 pence from 3.8 pence, according to New Star said.
After the IPO, 75 percent of the shares owned by directors and employees will initially be locked in and not be available for sale. One of the reasons the company is listing its shares on the Alternative Investment Market is because shareholders pay less capital gains tax than stocks trading on London Stock Exchange.
Posted
on : Mon, 17 Oct 2005 12:10 GMT | Business News
By : Pippa Fielding
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