LONDON - Prudential Banking PLC raised $355 million by selling a 20% stake in its Internet bank, Egg, in an initial public offering Monday. The proceeds will be used for Egg's expansion into Europe and for acquiring Internet companies.
Shares in Egg rose more than 11% to close at $2.68 per share and were the most heavily traded issue on the London exchange, with 80 million shares changing hands.
Egg, which is now valued at $2.2 billion, has signed one million customers since its debut in October 1998 and currently holds $11 billion of assets. About 85,000 Egg customers and employees bought about $85 million in stock, and the sale was nine times oversubscribed. There was a technical glitch, however. Some retail investors were delayed from selling their shares for over an hour because they had been given incomplete account numbers.
Prudential, the United Kingdom's second largest insurer, decided to go ahead with the offering despite recent market volatility. Also on Monday Abbey National PLC launched Cahoot, its Internet bank.
