(Alliance News) - interactive investor, the UK's second largest retail investment platform, is considering floating its own shares in London, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
Richard Wilson, chief executive of interactive investor, told the newspaper that ii is "looking at the various options" and that a "natural outcome for a firm like us, as a kind of a consumer-facing retail firm, would be" an initial public offering.
Wilson said an IPO was not the only option being considered, the FT reported, and that it was "about timing, but that's certainly something that we will be looking at".Â
ii has GBP50 billion in assets under management, according to the FT, and is majority owned by funds advised by private equity firm JC Flowers.
https://www.ft.com/content/6f709431-334a-46b0-a657-f1d0c774dae3
Manchester-based interactive investor is second in the UK retail investment market only to FTSE 100-listed Hargreaves Lansdown PLC and larger than FTSE 250-listed AJ Bell PLC. Earlier this month, ii agreed to buy the EQi direct-to-consumer business of Equiniti Financial Services from Equiniti Group PLC for GBP48.5 million. Last year, ii bought the Share Centre and in 2017 purchased the UK direct investing business Canada's TD Bank Group.
ii CEO Wilson last month had joined with his counterparts at Hargreaves and AJ Bell to call on the UK government to ensure the ability of retail investors to participate in IPOs, having been excluded from recent high-profile listings such as personalised cards and gifts retailer Moonpig Group PLC, boot maker Dr Martens PLC, and Hut Group owner THG PLC.
"If we list, we should set a good example about not just how we do it, but what we do and where we do it, because our purpose is to support the UK retail investor and make them more confident in their long-term financial future," Wilson told the FT.
By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.)
AJ Bell (AJB)