LONDON (Reuters) - UK motoring firm AA Group said on Monday it had completed an initial public offering (IPO) to raise gross proceeds of 1.4 billion pounds ($2.4 billion).
The offering, priced at 250 pence per share, was oversubscribed and its owners, private equity firms Permira [PERM.UL], Charterhouse [CHCAP.UL] and CVC [CVC.UL], have agreed to sell their entire 100 percent stake in the company, AA said in a statement.
AA shares will start conditional trading on Monday.
The private equity owners had already struck a deal to sell their stakes to a management buy-in team, led by Bob Mackenzie, a former boss of car insurer Green Flag who is to become AA's executive chairman, backed by institutional investors.
Best known for its roadside recovery services, AA received commitments of over 930 million pounds from those investors, which include Aviva , BlackRock Inc. and Legal & General.
They will take on AA's roughly 3 billion pounds of debt.
The AA is the UK's biggest motoring organisation and roadside recovery service, with around 16 million members. It also offers motor and home insurance and operates a driving school.
The firm, which says it rescues a broken-down vehicle every nine seconds, had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of 422.8 million pounds in the year to Jan. 30. Pretax profit was 214.6 million, down from 312.7 million a year earlier because of an increase in finance costs.
($1 = 0.5876 British Pounds)
(Reporting by Clare Hutchison; editing by Jason Neely)