Britvic floats with market value of £494m

The flotation of soft drinks supplier Britvic kicked off today as conditional dealings began on the London Stock Exchange at 230p per share.

The number of shares on public offer has been increased from 153 million to 181 million (from a total 215 million shares) and will give Britvic a market value of £494m.

The sellers are InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG), which held a majority 47.5% stake in Britvic, along with Whitbread and Pernod Ricard, which each held a 23.5% stake.

PepsiCo, however, is keeping its 5% stake.

IHG expects to raise £182m from its public offer of 79 million shares, which represents 77% of its holding.

The hotel group has also offered an over-allotment of its remaining 23 million shares which, if exercised, would bring the total sum raised to £235m.

IHG said the total value of its stake in Britvic, including special dividends, is worth £371m.

Whitbread expects to raise around £117m from the sale of all its 51 million shares. The group has also received two special dividend payments this year of £44.9m and £23.4m.

Britvic will start unconditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on 14 December.

By Angela Frewin

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