Instinet plans to raise about $450 million by midyear in a U.S. IPO, Reuters announced Thursday. Reuters, which owns Instinet, will retain a majority stake in its electronic trading system. The lead managers for the IPO will be Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown. Instinet plans to use the proceeds to repay about $200 million in debt to Reuters and for general corporate purposes.
Analysts last year vauled Instinet at $2 billion to $3 billion, according to Reuters. Instinet accounted for about 20% of Reuters’s £888 million ($1.3 billion) in revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to the latest Reuters data.
The number of shares and price of the offering will be made available later.
