Virgin Money Valued at Up to £1.45bn in Revived LSE Listing

UK lender Virgin Money will be valued at up to £1.45bn in its revived London Stock Exchange floatation, which is lower than expected.

The bank has set a price range of between 283 pence and 333 pence a share, giving it a valuation in the £1.25bn to £1.45bn range, Reuters reported.

BoA Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs are leading the deal. Barclays and Citi are the joint bookrunners.

Virgin Money confirmed on 4 November that it planned to proceed with its London share sale.

The banking arm of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is looking to raise £150m from the planned initial public offering (IPO), which was expected to value the firm at between £1.5bn and £2bn.

Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said in a statement: "Our business performance remains strong and on [31 October] we published our Q3 trading update which demonstrates our continued growth momentum.

"We welcome the clarity provided by the Financial Policy Committee on the leverage ratio, and are pleased to note that we operate in excess of the recommended requirements.

"Given this and given more stable market conditions, we now plan to move forward with our IPO with the aim of being admitted by the end of November. Access to the public capital markets has been a long-term strategic objective for Virgin Money and we are now ready to take this important step forward for our business."

Virgin Financial Investments owns 46.5% of Virgin Money and WL Ross, billionaire Wilbur Ross's US-based investment vehicle, owns 44.9%.