Hansard, the Isle of Man-registered company which has a substantial operation in Ireland, could be valued at £330 million (€488 million) following its announcement of the indicative offer price range for its initial public offering (IPO).
The company announced an indicative price range of 205p to 240p a share, which implies a market capitalisation range of approximately £280 million to £330 million.
The offer is expected to consist of the sale of up to 50.7 million shares, representing approximately 37 per cent of the company's issued share capital, giving a total offer size range of £104 million to £122 million.
Hansard's owner and executive chairman, Dr Leonard Polonsky, will be the main beneficiary from the flotation of more than a third of the company's shares on the London Stock Exchange.
None of the staff from the company's Dublin operation are set to benefit from the IPO.
"There are no Irish shareholders and there are no Isle of Man shareholders," said Hansard director and group counsel Gordon Marr.
Hansard has operated an IFSC company in Dublin, Hansard Europe, since 1995. Employing 27 people, it offers specialist long-term savings and investment products to high-net-worth investors throughout Europe.
About 40 per cent of its business is generated by the Dublin operation. Overall, Hansard had annual premium income of £35-£40 million and profits of just over £18 million last year.
Mr Marr said Hansard Europe was likely to benefit from the flotation.
"The idea is growth on all fronts, but certainly Europe has been a growth area for us over the past couple of years and it's a much larger part of the business than it was a few years ago," he said.
"The IPO is to develop the business primarily. We are probably one of the largest privately owned players left in this sort of field.
"There are intermediaries we would like to deal with who simply don't deal with closely held companies," Mr Marr continue, "so it's partly to see if we can open up our horizons and make business arrangements with larger and better intermediaries."
The group, which has a workforce of 170, sells policies exclusively through a network of more than 470 financial services intermediaries, independent financial advisers and the retail operations of certain financial institutions, who provide access to their clients in more than 170 countries.
