Gartmore IPO To Raise £400 Million

LONDON (Reuters) – British fund manager Gartmore and its private equity owners plan to raise about 400 million pounds ($659 million) in a London listing early next month, people familiar with the matter said.

Gartmore and San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman will sell shares at 250-330 pence each, valuing the company at 800 million pounds at the mid-point of that range.

Hellman & Friedman owns 58 percent of Gartmore and management and staff own the remainder.

Gartmore and bookrunners BofA Merrill Lynch (BAC.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and UBS (UBSN.VX) will price the offering on Dec. 10, the people said.

At mid-point of the price range, 280 million pounds worth of new shares, or 35 percent of Gartmore’s enlarged share capital would be issued.

(Reporting by Daisy Ku; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.6070 pound)