Standard Life makes exciting debut |
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Published
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Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:35
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LONDON - Shares in Standard Life PLC gained 4.2 percent on the first day of trading following the company's £2.1 billion initial public offering. The offer price of the shares was 230 pence per share and they quickly gained 7.75 pence to 239.75 pence in early trading.
The Edinburgh-based life insurance and pensions provider is valued at £4.65 billion. Sandy Crombie, the company chief executive said they had done a good job for the members. "We found an enormous demand for new shares," he said. "Members and customers applied for more shares than we had available to allocate to them."
Standard Life said there was "significant over subscription" on the issue. Members of the company were able to get shares at a 5 percent discount and paid 218.5 pence per share. Under the terms of the floatation, they are eligible to make 20 percent bonus if they retain the shares for more than a year.
"At this stage we're very happy to have completed the IPO with such success, with such support," Crombie told CNBC TV. "I honestly do believe that had we postponed and come back at a different time we could not necessarily have achieved better for our members." Standard Life's debut is the biggest on the UK market since Dimension Data floated in 2000.
Standard Life raised £1.1 billion through the public offer. Analysts were skeptical if the IPO would net enough due to the recent downturn in the market. But this showing has vindicated the company's potential. "It looks like 75 percent of the stock is going to be owned by their customers. There's been a big-take up, which is seen as a degree of confidence," said Mark Durling of Brewin Dolphin. "The institutions have been scaled back as well, so it does appear there will be demand for the stock over the next two to three weeks."
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| Stock
Quotes * |
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NASDAQ
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1445.56 |
-46.82 (
-3.19 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2008-12-04 ) |
| LAST |
CHANGE
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BG GROUP
(
11:35am )
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|
850.00 |
+50.50 (
6.27 %)
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NEXT
(
11:35am )
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1058.00 |
+45.00 (
4.49 %)
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SABMILLER
(
11:35am )
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|
1076.00 |
+31.00 (
2.95 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2008-12-04 )
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| LAST |
CHANGE
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|
DUPONT
(
4:01pm ) |
|
23.69 |
+0.08 (
0.36 %)
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| SYMBOL (
2008-12-04 )
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| LAST |
CHANGE
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