Aspen chooses NY over London for $4bn IPO: FT

LONDON: Aspen Insurance is targeting its $4 billion initial public offering next year in New York instead of London partly due to management concerns about valuations and more stringent listing requirements in Britain, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Bermuda-based Aspen, owned by private equity group Apollo, is being advised by Goldman Sachs, Citi and Jefferies on an IPO planned for the first half of next year, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Factors pushing the company against London included a diminishing valuation premium over similar New York-listed insurers in recent years and other technical requirements in London, such as that the company would have needed one year’s worth of figures reaudited because of a change in auditor, the report said.

Greater liquidity in the United States was also an important factor, it added.