Clydesdale valued at £1.58bn in delayed IPO

National Australia Bank (NAB) said on Wednesday the final price for the initial public offering (IPO) of shares in Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) is £1.80 a share, giving the demerged bank an initial stock market value of £1.58 billion.

By Wednesday afternoon, CYBG shares were trading at over £1.90.

The IPO had been delayed for 24 hours due to a request from a rating agency for more financial information.

The IPO price is at the lower end of the original wide price range of between £1.75 and £2.35 per share announced by NAB in January.

NAB is demerging 75% of CYBG to existing NAB shareholders and selling 25% of shares to institutional investors.

“We are pleased with the response from institutional investors to the IPO, including from NAB shareholders, despite the recent significant market volatility,” said NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn.

“The successful conclusion of the demerger and IPO of CYBG is a significant milestone for NAB that will enable us to pursue our own focused strategy in our core markets in Australia and New Zealand as we drive towards our vision of becoming Australia and New Zealand’s most respected bank.” 

Clydesdale chief executive David Duffy told the BBC Radio the £1.58 billion price “values the bank fairly in terms of the market”.

Duffy added: “What’s more important for us is that it’s not just the price, it’s the fact that we have become independent for the first time in 100 years and everyone is terribly excited about that.

“We set the price range taking into account the very volatile market that we see, and I think setting it at that range was sensible.”