Acromas has announced the IPO will be led a management buy-in team led by former NCP chairman Bob Mackenzie working alongside the existing AA management team, and backed by cornerstone investors including Aviva, Blackrock, CRMC, GLG Partners, Henderson Global, Henderson Volantis, Invesco, L&G and Lansdowne Partners.
The AA said that it has received binding commitments of over £930m from the cornerstone investors to acquire shares. As part of the offer the company is expected to issue approximately £210m of new shares, with the remainder of the offer comprising the sale of existing shares.
Following the cornerstone investors' commitments, Acromas would retain an approximate 31% shareholding in the AA but said that ‘given the interest shown to date, Acromas has agreed to make its remaining stake available to new investors at the same valuation’.
The offer is expected to take place in the second half of June 2014, with a total expected market capitalisation of approximately £1.39bn.
According to reports, rival RAC is believed to be considering a float of sale.
Bob Mackenzie, executive chairman, said: ‘The AA is a very successful organisation with a strong record of serving its members and the needs of the UK motorist. We believe there are significant opportunities to grow the business, a sentiment shared by the high-quality leading cornerstone investing institutions who have already committed over £930 million to the transaction.
‘We believe that as a public company, backed by investors of this quality, the AA will have a core set of long-term committed investors to support its continued growth and development.
‘The AA is a fundamentally strong business and underpinning our approach is a clear strategy to invest in systems and new technologies to further enhance the service provided to our members and customers; to steadily reduce the AA’s existing debt; and to develop the growth opportunities that we have identified. With such valuable support from our cornerstone investors, my colleagues and I are looking forward to continuing the AA’s growth as an independent public company.’