Bridgepoint shares surge in London IPO debut

Shares in private equity firm Bridgepoint surged on Wednesday morning for their first day of trading in London, rising well above the 350 pence per share price set for the initial public offering.

At 0711 GMT, Bridgepoint shares were trading at 423 pence.

The initial 350 pence per share price tag gave the group an initial market capitalisation of 2.88 billion pounds ($3.92 billion.

Bridgepoint’s debut as a public company comes at a time when private equity groups have embarked on a spending spree on assets around the world and especially in the UK, flush with cash after they largely sat out the pandemic.

Bridgepoint, which focuses on mid-sized deals of up to 1 billion euros, was formed in 2000 after a management buyout of NatWest’s private equity arm.