LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - Melrose Industries listed shares in the former automotive division of British
engineer GKN on the London Stock Exchange Thursday, giving a
boost to Britain's top bourse after it recently lost some
high-profile listings to New York.
Shares in the newly created Dowlais opened at 146
pence and were trading at close to 110 pence prior to
publication, implying a market capitalisation of around 1.5
billion pounds ($1.87 billion).
Dowlais, which encompasses GKN's Automotive, Powder
Metallurgy and Hydrogen businesses, was spun off to existing
Melrose shareholders.
Melrose acquired GKN in 2018 through a hostile takeover. It
is holding on to GKN's Aerospace division, which manufactures
airframe and engine structures and interconnection systems for
the aerospace industry.
"For Melrose, the focus is now on the continued development
of the Aerospace business," Melrose CEO Simon Peckham said in a
statement.
The unit has the potential to reach 1 billion pounds of
earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation
(EBITDA) over the coming years, he added.
The listing comes after IPO levels in London plunged by
roughly 90% last year, and follows a string of defections from
domestic or locally listed companies looking for liquidity
overseas.
($1 = 0.8029 pounds)
(Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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