Saga tests water with customers for market float
SAGA, the over-50s insurer, has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help plot a share offering for its 2.7m customers as part of a mooted £3bn stock market float.
The cruise ship specialist, which is led by boss Andrew Goodsell, will test the water with customers this week to gauge interest in the plan and see how much they would be prepared to invest in Saga shares.
In a sign of the company’s eagerness to get customers involved, it has recruited former AA chief executive Andrew Strong to co-ordinate the campaign.
Customers will also receive a letter directing them to a website where they can register expressions of interest in becoming shareholders, in what could become one of the biggest retail share offerings of all time.
The campaign comes amid a burst of potential float activity. EasyHotel, owned by easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is considering plans to list on the junior stock market to help it fulfil its aggressive expansion plans. The company declined to comment.
Just-Eat, the online food delivery service, has also hired JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to groom it for a float while McVitie’s owner United Biscuits is a candidate to float after its private equity owners decided to exit the firm.