Top RAC staff in line for £300m listing windfall
SENIOR executives at RAC are set to share a windfall of up to £300m if the breakdown recovery service decides to push ahead with its expected float next month.
Plans to list on the London Stock Exchange would put the group’s top managers in line to benefit from their combined 15 per cent stake in RAC, which is expected to reach a valuation of between £1.2bn and £2bn.
Carlyle Group, which bought RAC from Aviva in 2011 for £1bn, is understood to have been approached informally by buyout shops, ranging from Apax to BC Partners, about buying the roadside recovery group, but a public offering reportedly remains the prefered option.
RAC chief executive Chris Woodhouse would make between £40m and £50m from the float, sharing around 22 per cent of the executive share pool, and chairman Rob Templeman could make around £30m, from his 13 per cent stake in the share pool, according to Companies House filings.
Carlyle began weighing its options for RAC earlier this year and appointed investment bank Lazard as adviser.
Banks including Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have since been hired to act as bookrunners.
Templeman is expected to step down before the firm is floated, with CBI president Sir Mike Rake currently poised as the frontrunner to become chairman of the group.
Rake, who ruled himself out of the role of chairman at Barclays, also chairs BT Group, is a director of McGraw-Hill and is a member of the Prime Minister’s business advisory group.
“We are considering all options and a listing is the preferred route. However, no decision has been made,” said an RAC spokesperson.
Rival breakdown recovery group AA has seen success since it floated in June with its shares rising nearly 15 per cent pushing the group to a market capitalisation of around £1.4bn.