Friends Provident ended its 169 years as a mutual insurer with a successful public offering on the London Stock Exchange which raised an estimated £3.8 billion ($5.3 billion).
The newly investor owned company’s shares were priced at 225 pence ($3.15), in the low-middle range that analysts had expected given the depressed market conditions. Nevertheless the entire offering was snapped up as it went on sale, mostly by institutional investors, and the shares closed up 20 pence (28 cents) at 240 pence ($3.36).
Friends Provident’s 1.7 million policyholders received approximately 26 percent of the offering. Each one received a minimum of 200 shares, and the opportunity to purchase additional stock at a discount price.
The company’s flotation immediately set off speculation that it might become a takeover target. While it becomes Britain’s fifth largest insurer, after CGNU, Prudential, Legal & General and Royal & Sun, it’s still relatively small as a life insurer; and could be an attractive acquisition for a company like The Netherlands’s Aegon, which is actively seeking expansion opportunities in the U.K.
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