Aldermore meets with low-key demand for its £800m flotation
ADVISERS to the challenger bank Aldermore have found it tough going in the first two days of bookbuilding for its upcoming London flotation, sources said yesterday.
Equity capital markets experts said the issue had not yet been covered, suggesting the group was unlikely to make the top of its price range of between 217p and 265p a share.
At the middle of the range, the group is worth around £800m.
“By not getting the deal covered in quick time, the advisers have lost leverage over investors when it comes to pricing,” said one source last night.
Advisers to the group remained confident that the deal, which is set to price on 17 October, will go well.
Bankers and fund managers have recently spoken about a cooling of demand for new issues in the London market after a scintillating first half to the year.
A couple of floats that traded down in early trading, such as Card Factory and Saga, adversely affected sentiment and the sheer quantity of new issues during the earlier part of the year has made fund managers more choosy.
Aldermore is being advised by Lazard, Credit Suisse and Deutsche.