Clydesdale Bank has delayed the initial trading of its shares on the London Stock Exchange by 24 hours.
The initial public offering was planned for today (2 February), but according to a statement the UK bank said it was delaying the finalisation of the share trading until tomorrow (3 February).
Parent company National Australia Bank said it will offload its UK subsidiaries on 8 February as it looks to focus on its Australian and New Zealand operations.
The delay to share trading follows a request to the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group (CYBG) from one of the rating agencies for certain financial information relating to its assessment of the bank’s deposit rating.
The outcome of this assessment could be a near term downgrade of the short and/or long-term deposit rating or the placing of such rating on credit watch with negative implications.
Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group is expected to have a senior standalone investment grade credit rating.
The bank said it does not anticipate any such downgrade to have any material impact on the financial outlook for Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banking Group.
A downgrade of the deposit rating would require Clydesdale Bank to take mitigating actions in relation to its existing secured funding programmes.
The Supreme Court of Victoria approved the demerger yesterday.
NAB expects to announce the final pricing for the IPO on 3 February 2016.
katherine.denham@ft.com
