UK's OneSavings Bank to price listing at bottom of range - sources

Reuters
Updated

By Freya Berry and Matt Scuffham

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's OneSavings Bank <1SBA.L> is set to price its London stock market listing at 170 pence a share, at the bottom of the price range, valuing the business at 413 million pounds ($691.3 million), two sources familiar with the matter said.

OneSavings, which is owned by US private equity fund JC Flowers, had targeted a price range of 170-225 pence a share, and a valuation of 413-530 million pounds, the sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The bank, which is looking to bolster its capital and obtain funding for future growth, is one of several new British banks eying stock market listings. However, investor interest in UK company flotations has cooled in recent weeks following a flurry of activity earlier in the year.

Lloyds Banking Group said last month that it planned to sell just a quarter of its shares in TSB in the first tranche of an initial public offering, having originally planned to sell up to 50 percent.

Outside the banking sector, clothing chain Fat Face pulled a planned 110 million pound offer while holidays-to-insurance firm Saga priced its shares at the bottom end of market expectations.

OneSavings was created in 2010 when the struggling Kent Reliance building society was rescued through a 50 million pound capital injection by JC Flowers. The bank made a pretax profit of 31.4 million pounds last year, up from 8.1 million in 2012, and increased lending by 38 percent to 3 billion pounds. It is targeting a dividend payout of at least 25 percent of earnings.


(Reporting By Freya Berry; Editing by Erica Billingham)