Yearsley surprised at speed of Jupiter float
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Hargreaves Lansdown investment manager Ben Yearsley says Jupiter’s decision to float next month may be linked to plans by the coalition Government to hike capital gains tax.
Jupiter has announced plans to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange, which could value the group at up to 1bn.
The firm is hoping the listing will raise up to 220m from new shares and the sale of some shares by staff. The group’s funds under management stood at 19.5bn at December 31, 2009.
Yearsley says he is surprised by the speed at which Jupiter has announced the float.
He says: “The question is, would you float at a time like this when markets are volatile? It is a good opportunity for investors if Jupiter wants to get it away.
“The CGT argument is the obvious one as you have a lot of wealthy fund managers who are looking to crystallise some of their wealth, which may mean a discount if the float gets away under the 18 per cent CGT rate rather than 40 or 50 per cent. The fear is if CGT gets backdated.”
Jupiter was unable to comment further.
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