Clydesdale IPO ‘priced at lower end of range’

The London stock market listing of shares in Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) has been priced at £1.80 a share, valuing CYBG at roughly £1.6 billion, according to Reuters.

That would be at the lower end of the original wide price range of between £1.75 and £2.35 per share announced for the initial public offering (IPO) by current owner National Australia Bank (NAB) in January.

Trading in CYBG, which employs about 4,000 people in Scotland, is due to start on Tuesday, despite the ongoing volatility in securities markets that has made it difficult to launch a sale of new company shares.

NAB plans a demerger of 75% of CYBG to existing NAB shareholders and a divestment of 25% of shares to institutional investors via the IPO this week.

The Australian bank decided Clydesdale and Yorkshire is now in a position to be spun off from NAB and listed as a standalone retail and small and medium business bank with a strong franchise across its core regional UK markets.

NAB group chief executive Andrew Thorburn has said that after the demerger, NAB’s focus and resources would be directed towards its core priorities in its Australia and New Zealand businesses.