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5 June 2005

It has been 18 months since the last £1bnplus company floated in the UK. Now PartyGaming, Inmarsat and possibly RHM will join the club. Institutional investors should be receptive. But that s mainly because they are keen to wrangle price discounts from sellers.

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At least two £1bnplus companies are preparing to float on the London Stock Exchange. It has been 18 months since the last £1bnplus company, the mining group Vedanta, floated in London.

PartyGaming, one of the world's leading online gaming companies, announced its intention to float on June 2. The company is expected to achieve a market capitalisation of almost £6bn.

Inmarsat, a global satellite operator, announced its planned float on June 1. The company would be worth £1.1bn at the midpoint of its indicative price range.

RHM, the bakery business that was formerly part of the conglomerate Tomkins, is thought to be near to announcing an initial public offering of shares. It is believed to be worth roughly £1.5bn.

London's last big IPO was that of the spreadbetting firm IG group on April 28. The company floated at 120p per share, valuing it at nearly £400m. The shares were trading at 126p on Friday.

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