LONDON (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s Air Astana on Monday set the price range for joint stock exchange listings in the UK and its home market, preparing the ground for a float that would boost London’s sluggish IPO market and raise about $120 million for the carrier.
The move, first announced earlier in January, will enable Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund and British defence giant BAE Systems to reduce their current stakes in the airline.
The price range for the offering of new and existing shares on the London Stock Exchange and Kazakhstan’s AIX and KASE markets has been set between $8.50 to $11.00 per depository receipt and $2.13 to $2.75 per share.
This would give the company a market capitalisation of between $770 million and $962 million, it said.
The final price will be determined by a bookbuilding process and is expected to be announced around Feb.
9, it added, with trading set to commence in London on Feb. 14 and in Kazakhstan on Feb. 15.
Air Astana flies 49 aircraft. It carried 7 million passengers and posted operating profit of $149 million in 2022.
The listing will be a windfall for BAE depending on how much of its 49% stake it sells.
London’s market has struggled in recent years, hurt by Britain’s departure from the European Union, and companies opting to list in the United States.
(Reporting by Iain Withers; Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)
