LONDON (Reuters) - PartyGaming, the world’s biggest online poker company, said on Wednesday it expects to be valued at up to 5.1 billion pounds in its flotation later this month, set to make it London’s biggest new arrival for four years.
PartyGaming said it will sell shares at between 111 pence and 127 pence in the offer, raising between 996 million pounds and 1.139 billion pounds, including a possible over-allotment offer.
Trading is expected to begin on the London Stock Exchange
The flotation will value PartyGaming at between 4.4 billion and 5.1 billion pounds, below some analyst forecasts of up to 5.6 billion but still the biggest firm to float in London since technology company Dimension Data in July 2000.
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The IPO offer size is the biggest since Friends Provident in July 2001.
PartyGaming said it planned to pursue an "aggressive" dividend policy, and planned to pay out $200 million for its 2005 final dividend. It said this would represent two-thirds of the full-year payout that would have been made.
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is sole global coordinator for the offer.
