(30 October 2015 – United Kingdom) National Australia Bank (NAB) has said that it will float Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks on the London Stock Exchange in 2016 as it exits the U.K. market.
The float will be made under the CYBG banner, with NAB providing a £1.7 billion (A$36.67 billion) indemnity against any further compensation requirements. David Duffy has been appointed head of the U.K. operation, joining from Allied Irish Banks.
Duffy said: “By keeping our focus on how and what we deliver for customers, we have created a strong platform on which to build an exciting future for us as an independent bank. In doing that, I believe we have the ability to offer our customers an attractive alternative to the status quo of banking in the U.K.”
He told Reuters “Some investors will obviously look at it and say there may be consolidation, so there could be a premium in the shares for them,”
“That’s from the outside in, where somebody seeks to acquire us. Equally, there’s potentially significant equity upside if we were a consolidator. As the largest full-scale [small and medium enterprise banking] challenger, that’s a very viable option too.”
About 75 percent of the shares will be given to current investors in NAB with the remainder offered to institutional investors.
Earlier this week, Andrew Thorburn, chief executive of NAB, said: “This company [NAB] has been so distracted for so long. We can now see almost an end to that.
“That is going to be so uplifting and enable consistent ongoing focus on our Australian New Zealand franchise.”