Aldermore Bank heads for London float

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Aldermore has announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange, which could see the challenger bank valued at up to £900m.

It is set to be followed, probably later this week, by luxury shoe firm Jimmy Choo and roadside rescue company RAC, valued at some £800 million and £1.5 billion, respectively.

Aldermore plans to raise £75 million in new cash while original private equity backer Anacap, other later investors and management, led by chief executive Philip Monk, could sell shares worth £200 million.

Recent backers Toscafund and Lansdowne plan to increase their current 8.3 per cent shareholding by buying shares in the float.

Aldermore will join TSB and OneSavings, which floated in the spring, and Virgin Money, which is looking to float later this year, as listed challengers to the big high street banks.

“We are not a start up but a mature profitable business,” Monk said. “Now is absolutely the right time to access deeper pools of capital and bring in a wider range of shareholders.”

Aldermore also announced a more than trebling of first-half profits from £5.3 million to £18.6 million, with its loan book gaining 19 per cent to £4 billion. Deposits rose 11 per cent to £3.86 billion.

Monk said Aldermore was “essentially capital self-sufficient.” It already had strong capital ratios which met all the new regulators’ demands for banks.

He said the business would stick to its four main areas of asset finance, invoice finance, commercial mortgages for small and medium-sized businesses, and residential mortgages.

“We don’t have plans to move into the current account market,” he added.

Anacap backed Monk and his team in 2009 when Aldermore gained its banking licence through the takeover of Ruffler Bank. The private equity firm will continue to own a majority stake in Aldermore.

Shares are likely to be priced and start trading next month.