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BlueBay Raises 189 Million Pounds in Share Offering (Update2)
By Andrei Postelnicu
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- BlueBay Asset Management Plc, a London-based manager of fixed-income funds, raised 189 million ($356.7 million) pounds in an initial public offering that will allow its backers to reduce or eliminate their stake.
BlueBay sold 63 million shares at 300 pence each, the company said in a statement today. Investors have been offered an additional 7 million shares under the so-called over- allotment option. The IPO values BlueBay at 571 million pounds and the stock begins trading today on the London Stock Exchange.
BlueBay, which had $8 billion under management at the end of September, is selling shares to allow Barclays Plc to exit the business and Shinsei Bank Ltd. to halve its stake. The two banks financed BlueBay when it was founded in 2001 by Hugh Willis, chief executive officer, and Mark Poole, chief financial officer.
New York-based Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. will buy a 5 percent stake in BlueBay, according to a statement earlier this month from the asset manager. Lehman will not be able to sell the shares for 12 months from the date of purchase.
After the offer, Willis and Poole each own about 12 percent of BlueBay each while other employees own about 33 percent, the company said in its statement today.
The shares added 15 pence, or 5 percent, to 315 pence in London.
BlueBay's income funds invest in high-yield debt, as well as investment-grade debt and bonds issued by emerging-market countries.
The asset gatherer joins rivals including New Star Asset Management Group Plc and Charlemagne Ltd. that have sold shares to the public in the last year amid rising stock markets, which have boosted their valuations.
Credit Suisse sponsored the offering while Citigroup Inc. and Fox-Pitt, Kelton Ltd. managed the sale.