Curtis Banks votes for IPO as Britain heads to polls

One of the UK's biggest providers of self-invested personal pension plans (Sipps) is defying the pre-election jitters that have hit several financial markets with a planned initial public offering on London's Aim that will see the company's first day of trading just as UK voters head to the polls.

Curtis Banks Group, which is the UK's third-largest provider of Sipps, plans to raise £7.5m on Thursday by issuing new equity with a share price of 190p on the Aim junior stock market. This implies a market capitalisation of about £85m.

An oversubscribed placing saw about 30 new investors, including Liontrust Investment Partners, secure just over 25 per cent of the company.

Curtis Banks, whose nominated adviser for the offering is Peel Hunt, has earmarked the extra capital to fund ambitious growth plans.

"The market for Sipps is growing rapidly and we anticipate that there will be increasing opportunities to develop new products and services, as well as further acquisition opportunities as regulatory changes come into force next year," said Rupert Curtis, managing director of Curtis Banks.

Reforms ushered in by the chancellor George Osborne that took effect in April allow those over 55 to take their pension savings as they wish without having to buy an annuity.

While Sipps may have increased in demand as a result, they have also been the focus of increasing regulatory scrutiny by UK watchdogs after being used as a wrapper for a series of risky and fraudulent products in some cases.

Curtis Banks said it had an excellent regulatory record.

With just days to go before the general election, forecasts suggest that neither the Conservatives nor Labour will be able to form a majority government. The uncertainty as to how any coalition government might be made up has hit markets, with sterling dropping sharply against the dollar on two consecutive days last week.

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