P2p lender Funding Circle is looking for advisers to a London flotation potentially worth £1bn, according to reports.
Sky News said it had learnt that the company intends to hold a beauty parade to choose an adviser for the flotation in late Q1 2018, with a listing possible as early as autumn.
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Sources said a syndicate of investment banks would be hired to steer the flotation.
According to the report, the lender’s valuation could easily surpass the £1bn figure it reached in its most recent funding round, which raised £82m (€92m). Some investors suggested the valuation could even double to £2bn.
The company is expected to raise new money in the range of hundreds of millions from the flotation.
Funding Circle already has a presence on the London Stock Exchange through its SME Income Fund, whose profits for the first half of FY 2017 rose 20% year-on-year, to £6.5m.
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By GlobalDataThe latest results for the whole of Funding Circle were even more positive, with revenues rising almost 60% to £50.9m between 2015 and 2016 and the loanbook expanding 61% to £1.3bn.
