NATIONAL Australia Bank’s board has formally decided to push ahead with a stock market flotation of Clydesdale Bank.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange NAB said further details on the initial public offering of shares would be released in the early part of next month.
NAB boss Andrew Thorburn has made offloading the UK arm one of his key priorities since taking over as chief executive in August last year.
A flotation quickly emerged as the preferred option for that with Clydesdale having already prepared much of the groundwork for its stock market debut.
It is widely anticipated Clydesdale will be floated on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in early February.
NAB has previously signalled between 20 and 30 per cent of the shares in Clydesdale will be up for grabs to new institutional investors. The remainder will stay with NAB investors.
NAB has also agreed to provide a £1.7 billion capital package to cover Clydesdale for various customer redress issues.
Clydesdale brought in David Duffy from Allied Irish Banks in June to lead it through the flotation process after former chief executive David Thorburn decided to step down.
Mr Duffy has consistently voiced his opinion that Clydesdale can challenge the dominance of the big players in the UK and recently spoke about how excited staff are at the prospect of being an independent bank.
In the statement to the stock exchange NAB said: “The National Australia Bank (NAB) Board [has] formally decided to proceed with the demerger and proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) to institutional investors of [Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group].
“The proposed demerger and IPO remain subject to a range of matters, including various court and regulatory approvals and NAB shareholder approval.”
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