Baillie Gifford £200m Trainline punt pays off

Baillie Gifford

An investment of around £200 million by Edinburgh-based fund management giant Baillie Gifford in online ticketing firm Trainline has paid off immediately.

Baillie Gifford committed the £200 million for a roughly 10% stake as a cornerstone investor in Trainline before it went public last week and joined the stock market at 350p per share.

Since then, the shares have risen about 17% to around 410p.

Trainline, which sells rail and coach tickets online, floated 56.5% of its equity on the London Stock Exchange on Friday in a £951 million offer that values the entire firm at £1.68 billion.

Trainline’s shares, priced at 350p, opened at 400p on Friday and quickly climbed as high as 431p before settling slightly lower.

Trainline CEO Clare Gilmartin said at the launch: “We believe we are uniquely positioned to capitalise on the vast opportunity ahead and accelerate our expansion for the benefit of our customers, our train and coach company partners and our shareholders.”