London-based peer-to–peer lender Funding Circle Ltd is planning an IPO that could value the company at more than £1 billion, Sky News reported, citing sources at investment banks briefed on the matter.
Funding Circle is expected to vet prospective managers for the offering by late in the first quarter and name a syndicate by the spring, with a flotation possible by the autumn, according to the report. Existing investors were reported to have said the company could reach a valuation of £2 billion.
A January 2017 funding round led by Accel, a backer of blue-chip tech companies, raised £82 million and valued Funding Circle at $1 billion, the report noted. Investors told Sky News that the company was likely to try to raise hundreds of millions of pounds through the prospective IPO.
