Citizens Financial’s Offering Raises $3 Billion as It Parts From R.B.S.
After 26 years within the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Citizens Financial Group, the American retail bank, is setting off on its own.
The bank raised $3 billion in its initial public offering on Tuesday, valuing itself at $12.9 billion, which was below expectations.
At its I.P.O. price, Citizens will become the second-biggest market debut in the United States this year, behind only the enormous $25 billion stock sale by the Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet juggernaut.
British regulators have put increasing pressure on the bank, based in Edinburgh, to improve its profitability and slim down its operations. Spinning off Citizens has long been part of the plan to satisfy those concerns.
According to the I.P.O. prospectus, Citizens had $91.7 billion in deposits and $88.8 billion in loans as of June 30. It earned $479 million in the first half of the year, atop $2.6 billion in total revenue.
Citizens has been preparing for a life as an independent, publicly traded company for some time. It has sought to diversify its operations by bolstering its commercial lending capabilities, while cutting costs and improving offerings ranging from new A.T.M.s to mobile banking apps.
The bank will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, under the ticker symbol CFG.
The Citizens I.P.O. was led by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs
Source: NYT- Citizens Financial’s Offering Raises $3 Billion as It Parts From R.B.S.
