National Australia Bank prices Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks shares near bottom of range – but puts off IPO by a day
National Australia Bank (NAB) has said shares in its Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank chains (CYBG to their friends) will trade at 180p – but added that the much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) will take place tomorrow.
The new bank had been expected to begin trading on the London Stock Exchange today. But NAB said a request from one of the ratings agencies for information relating to its assessment of Clydedale's short and long-term deposit rating meant it was pushing back its IPO by 24 hours.
In a statement today, it said the outcome could be a "near term downgrade of the short- and/or long-term deposit rating or the placing of such rating on credit watch with negative implications".
"CYBG does not anticipate any such downgrade to have any material impact on its ability to raise funding, the overall cost of funding, or the financial outlook for CYBG. A downgrade of the short- and/or long-term deposit rating would require Clydesdale Bank to take mitigating actions in relation to its existing secured funding programmes.
"This ratings development may not occur, and should it occur, is not considered material to the financial position and outlook of CYBG. However, given the proximity of this request to the IPO, NAB and CYBG have decided to delay finalisation of the IPO for 24 hours."
The pricing of shares is near the bottom of CYBG's range of 175p to 235p, valuing the business closer to the £1.5bn end of its scale.
A demerger of the two banks successfully took place overnight, it said.
Conditional trading in CYBG shares will now begin in London tomorrow morning, with unconditional trading starting on 8 February.