Wind power company Infinis Energy made a poor debut on the London Stock Exchange as it took the low end of its price range during the flotation. From its float price of 260 pence a share, the stock of the renewable energy generator finally closed at 270 pence per share in its first conditional trading day. Private equity company Terra Firma had initially priced the shares from 260 pence to 310 pence a share.
Terra Firma was able to raise GBP 234 million from the initial public offering but retained a 69% stake in the company. The IPO valued Infinis at GBP 780 million. According to a report on The Independent, the flotation was considered the most recent attempt at redemption for Hands. He suffered a dent in his reputation after a GBP 4 billion takeover of EMI in 2007 turned out to be a disaster.
Private equity-backed Just Retirement also made a poor showing in its first unconditional trading day on the London bourse. Shares plunged to 195 pence apiece which was well below its originally float price of 225 pence a share. The fall fueled fears that bankers had overpriced the stock. Just Retirement gives pensions to individuals suffering from health problems. Private equity firm Permira acquired the company for GBP 1.12 billion.
Online Russian lender TCS founded by Oleg Tinkov also experienced a fall in its shares to 11.5 pence apiece. The 27% plunge of the shares came as reports that the Russian parliament was thinking of proposals that would make it more difficult for lenders without branches to issue credit cards.
TCS Group said about the proposals, "the currently proposed new clause has been misinterpreted by some commentators and has been read as meaning that credit cards can only be collected by customers at a fixed location (ie branch). Our understanding from conversations with the authors of this legislation is that the legislators intend to target unsolicited, blanket mailings of credit cards which gives us a good reason to believe that this clause will be amended."
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