Challenger bank Shawbrook is launching a £725 million IPO today
The upstart lender confirmed in a regulatory statement that 75,000,000 ordinary shares would start trading at 290 pence each. This gives the company a market capitalisation of £725 million ($1.1 billion).
The bank expects to raise approximately £90 million from the IPO.
"We are delighted that our initial public offering has been successfully received by investors and we welcome them to our business," said Richard Pyman, CEO of Shawbrook, in a statement. "Our focus remains on providing UK customers with a fresh, pragmatic approach to lending and savings whilst driving further growth by maximising opportunities in existing markets, capitalising on the embedded growth in our current loan book and developing a range of products to facilitate expansion into adjacent segments.
"We look forward to the next stage of our journey as Shawbrook continues to deliver on its strategy to become an increasingly well-known name in the specialist world of British banking."
Shawbrook was set up take on Britain's biggest banks. It currently lends to just over 60,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and consumers in the UK. Shawbrook increased customer loans by 70% to £2.3 billion in the year to December 31, 2014, and reported a 191% surge in underlying profit before tax at £49 million for that year.
Shawbrook's announced its IPO only three days after Aldermore started trading on the London stock market. Aldermore, which was founded in 2009, launched its IPO on March 10, 2015.