LONDON (Reuters) - Fund firm Gartmore
In a statement on Friday, the firm said a listing on the London Stock Exchange would also reduce its net debt to about 150 million pounds. The offer was expected to close in mid-December.
A Gartmore spokeswoman said Hellman & Friedman would reduce its 50 percent stake in the firm, but would not exit completely. The remaining half of the firm is owned by staff.
The company declined to provide a detailed valuation target for the IPO.
As at end-September Gartmore and its subsidiaries had 21.8 billion pounds of assets under management and had attracted 924 million pounds of net inflows in the third quarter of 2009.
The company had considered an IPO in 2007 for up to 1.5 billion pounds. These plans were put on ice due to the financial crisis and in April, a senior Gartmore executive played down the likelihood of an IPO because of the state of the markets.
However, the recent surge in equity prices has reignited interest amongst private equity firms to list portfolio businesses.
Private equity investors, however, are showing signs they are ready to accept lower returns in exchange for getting some cash back when portfolio firms come to float in what could be a crowded market for new issues over the next year.
BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley
(Reporting by Cecilia Valente, Editing by Joel Dimmock)
(c) Reuters 2012. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
