UK lender Aldermore to float on London Stock Exchange

(Adds detail on company, offer)

LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - British bank Aldermore plans to float on the London Stock Exchange (Other OTC: LDNXF - news) next month, in a debut that could value it at up to 900 million pounds ($1.5 billion) and test investor appetite for new lenders aiming to challenge the established big banks.

Aldermore, partly owned by private equity fund AnaCap Financial Partners, focuses on lending to small and medium-sized businesses and homeowners.

The offer will consist of 75 million pounds of new shares, plus an undetermined amount of existing shares, it said on Monday.

Aldermore is part of a wave of so-called "challenger banks" to opt for a listing, with OneSavings and TSB floating earlier in 2014, as they seek to wrest market share from major high-street lenders such as Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) .

Virgin Money is also expected to float this year.

Aldermore said first-half profit leapt 249 percent to 18.6 million pounds, while lending to businesses and homeowners hit the 4 billion-pound mark.

"We're raising more capital to put more fuel in the tank," said Chief Executive Officer Phillip Monks.

The company does not intend to pay a dividend in the near term, but will consider doing so from 2017 depending on growth opportunities, it said.

Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS - news) and Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) are leading the listing, while Nomura and Numis are co-lead managers. Lazard is advising.

($1 = 0.6115 British Pounds) (Reporting by Freya Berry; Editing by Susan Thomas and Mark Potter)