Saga prices shares at bottom end of range

Over-50s travel and insurance group Saga made its market debut this morning, achieving a valuation of £2.1 billion.

The private equity-backed firm priced its shares at 185p – right at the bottom of its expected 185p to 245p range – with the float of a 27 per cent stake raising about £550 million for the business.

Conditional trading in Saga’s shares began this morning and unconditional trading its expected to kick off on Thursday.

Executive chairman Andrew Goodsell said: “We have been very pleased with the level of demand for Saga shares from both retail and institutional investors, with the offer subscribed several times over.

“We are delighted to have so many of our customers as shareholders and to have a high quality group of core institutions who we believe will be long-term supporters of the business.”