Arbuthnot Banking looks to reduce stake in Secure Trust Bank

Arbuthnot Banking Group intends to cut its stake in Secure Trust Bank to 20%, from 51.9%, by selling about 5.8m shares in the company at a discounted £25 each.

The share sale, via a secondary placing to institutional investors, would generate gross proceeds of about £145m for Arbuthnot, it said. The price of £25 a share was at a 10.7% discount to the 26 May closing price for Secure Trust shares.

It said it had been informed by Secure Trust that its intention, conditional on completion of the sale, would be to seek to move to the London Stock Exchange’s main market.

As part of the intended move, Secure Trust would address its corporate governance structure and Sir Henry Angest -- non-executive chairman of Secure Trust and chairman and chief executive of Arbuthnot -- has signalled his intention to begin a search for a new independent non-executive chairman of Secure Trust.

Arbuthnot had also been told by Secure Trust that the special dividend of 165p a share relating to the sale of the Everyday Loans Group was not expected to be declared until after completion of the sale.