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Virgin Money delays IPO until market conditions improve
Virgin Money has pushed back its IPO indefinitely, saying it will now go public “as soon as constructive market conditions allow”.
The challenger bank had announced it would list on the London Stock Exchange this month, and was expecting to raise gross proceeds of £150m.
Virgin planned to issue 25 per cent of its equity, valuing the bank at £1.5bn-£2bn.
However the Richard Branson-backed business issued a statement saying it was “mindful of market conditions” and that as a result it was delaying the admission.
Admission will be “later than October”, it said, depending on when the markets improve.
Chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said:
Virgin Money continues to perform strongly and we remain focused on delivering a successful initial public offering as soon as market conditions allow.
Virgin's delay follows the news this week that fellow bank Aldermore had pulled the plug on its IPO citing “the deterioration of global equity markets”.
Aldermore had expected to raise £75m in the IPO, valuing the bank at around £800m, but investor appetite had dwindled in the face of a worsening financial climate and following a number of issues in the first half of the year.
The bank's advisers had attempted to woo investors with a cut-price offer – but still failed to get enough support to go ahead.
Yesterday, City A.M reported that a source close to the Virgin Money deal said the IPO was still being pursued, but acknowledged it had been “lucky” not to have announced the price range, “so there is more flexibility”.
“We are not beholden to any date on the deal,” the source said at the time.