Set at an initial price of £1.45 ($1.92, €1.65) per share, trading hit £1.60 early in the day before easing back to around £1.49p at 4pm.
The initial listing price gave the firm a market capitalisation of £2.76bn. In total, 9.6% of Quilter will be put on the open market.
In addition, South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation has a 9.4% stake, while Coronation Asset Management holds 5.3%, Blackrock has 5.2% , while Norges Bank holds 3%.
Speaking to International Adviser, Quilter chief executive Paul Feeney said he was “delighted” with the success of the IPO, describing it as “a historical milestone” for the company.
Employee benefits
“Today, all of our staff became shareholders in the firm,” said Feeney, as Quilter gave all employees £2,000 worth of shares.
“That has been important to us, as we try to pursue our goal of creating prosperity for our clients, that our staff feel engaged.”
Rather than “let equity float up to the top of the house”, he said they wanted to “disperse it over the company”.
Not that the staff at Quilter will be able to rest on their laurels, with the different businesses still in the process of rebranding from Old Mutual.
“We’ve given ourselves two years, but I hope it will all be completed long before then.”
The next steps for the freshly floated company involve “building out our investment range; building out our financial planning proposition across the company; and getting our new UK platform in, which is going to be huge for us”.
“These are the things we still have to do,” Feeney said.
Foundation
Another important announcement on Monday was the launch of the Quilter Foundation. Chaired by Feeney, the objective of the foundation is the “flip side of the coin” from the company.
“The company’s purpose is to create prosperity for the generations of today and tomorrow. The purpose of the foundation is to overcome the barriers to prosperity in our country.”
The foundation will channel the existing charitable and philanthropic work already carried out by Quilter.
Although it is still “early days”, Feeney said there are already plans afoot for what the foundation can achieve.
“One priority is access to financial education, we are now working with schools across the country with KickStart Money. Another idea that we’ve got is young carers, which can take away access to education, employment opportunities and their confidence in life.”
Investors are increasingly wanting to make a difference with their money and are looking for companies that reflect that desire. But it’s not just investors, says Feeney.
“When we’re attracting talent to work in our company, particularly young people want to work with companies they think are making a difference.”
The Quilter Foundation will also boost the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.
“It’s not just responsible investment, to which we’re all signed up. Actually, making a difference in the local community, to local people’s lives at a grass-roots level – that’s the legacy I’d like to try and leave.”
For Feeney, “wealth management isn’t just for the wealthy”.
Work to do
That doesn’t mean there isn’t work for the company to do internally.
As highlighted by International Adviser, the executive directors and senior managers of Quilter are all men.
“In our senior leadership 33% are women, which is nowhere near good enough. Quite frankly, we’re behind the eight-ball.”
Feeney has personally taken up the role of diversity champion across the business, “because it isn’t good enough”.
“Expect to see change,” he told IA. “One of my goals is to create the environment where our people can thrive, not the environment where 50-year-old bald blokes can thrive.
“We’ve already got that.
“You can only thrive when you’ve got a diverse company. Our business has come together organically, through divestment and acquisition. So, we are where we are. Five years ago, we dreamed about what we wanted to be. And we have created what we wanted to be. Now, we have to dream again, and we have to dream about who we want to be,” Feeney said.
“This is why I’m talking about the Foundation and diversity and inclusion and making a difference as a wealth manager.”
