After last week’s announcement of Merlin Entertainments‘ (LSE: MERL) price range of 280p-330p per share for the global offer, this morning brought the news that the offer price has been set at 315p per ordinary share.
While the IPO initially followed the same path as Royal Mail‘s — the price range was set at the same range as the postal service’s — this time the pricing wasn’t at the top end.
However, in early conditional trading Merlin saw a similarly strong start, with the shares soaring to 355p before coming back down to hover around 350p at the time of writing.
At the offer price of 315p, management have given Merlin a market capitalisation at £3.19bn after previously suggesting a range between £2.86bn and £3.34bn, and represents 30% of Merlin’s share capital on admission.
Private investors who applied for the minimum allocation of £1,000 worth of shares have each been allocated 317 shares, worth £998.55, while investors who applied for more than £1,000 will also receive 317 shares, as well as 55% of the excess amount that they applied for.
Chief executive officer Nick Varney commented:
“We are delighted with the strong response from both institutions and retail shareholders to our offer. We have long stated our belief that becoming a public company was Merlin’s ultimate destiny, providing the right long-term ownership to enable the next stage of development. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our proven growth strategy as we further expand our unique portfolio of iconic international brands.”
