UAE - Payments processor Network International confirmed on Thursday plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange next month in the first big initial public offering in the UK this year.

The Dubai-based company, an affiliated associate of Emirates NBD Group, said in a statement that indicative price range, together with the maximum number of shares to be sold in the offer, would be determined in due course.

The company said it intends to have a free float of at least 25 per cent of its issued share capital.

According banking sources, an IPO could value Network International at about $3 billion. The company expects to be eligible for inclusion in FTSE UK indexes.

Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic jointly own a 49 per cent stake in Network International, while Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest bank, holds the remaining 51 per cent.

Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic acquired the 49 per cent stake from troubled private equity firm Abraaj Group and sovereign wealth fund Emirates Investment Authority in 2015.

The company's admission to the official list of the Financial Conduct Authority to trade on the London Stock Exchange is likely to take place in April.

The statement said prior to admission, the company will be re-registered as a public company and renamed Network International Holdings.

The indicative price range in respect of the offer together with the maximum number of shares to be sold in the offer, will be determined in due course and contained in the prospectus to be published soon.

"The final offer price in respect of the offer will be determined following a book-building process, with admission currently expected to occur in April 2019," said the statement.

Network International noted that it has engaged Citigroup as sole sponsor, joint global coordinator and joint book-runner, with other book-runners including Emirates NBD Capital Limited, JP Morgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Liberum Capital limited is the co-lead manager on the offer, while Evercore Partners International is acting as financial adviser.

Network International will be the first of scale to test investor appetite in Europe's lacklustre IPO market, where concerns over Brexit and slowing growth in Germany and France have helped push volumes at the start of this year to the lowest level since the financial crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Middle Eastern firms have a track record of listing in London. Abu Dhabi's NMC Health has surged more than tenfold since listing in the UK seven years ago. Al Noor Hospitals Group listed in London in 2013 before being taken over by Mediclinic International.

Network International posted revenue of $298 million in 2018 with core earnings of $152 million.

 

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