British venture capital firm Augmentum seeks London listing - source

By Ben Martin

LONDON (Reuters) - Augmentum Management, a Lord Rothschild-backed British venture capital firm, is planning to raise as much as 125 million pounds ($176.75 million) from a London stock market listing to put towards a new fund, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The fintech-focussed business is working with Fidante Capital on the listing that could take place as soon as March, the person said.

As part of the initial public offering (IPO) Augmentum will launch a closed-end investment company and widen its investor base away from RIT Capital Partners, the listed investment trust led by Lord Rothschild that is the sole backer of Augmentum's first fund.

The firm was set up nine years ago as Augmentum Capital by Tim Levene and Richard Matthews, two entrepreneurs who were behind Flutter.com, the betting exchange that was bought by Betfair in 2001.

Since it was founded, Augmentum has invested in businesses including crowdfunding platform Seedrs, the gold and silver online marketplace BullionVault, and peer-to-peer lender Zopa.

The listing plans follow a difficult few months for Britain's IPO market, which faltered in November when broadcasting masts business Arqiva and debt collector Cabot Credit Management both pulled planned flotations.

In the same month, ready meals supplier Bakkavor was also forced to cut the price of the shares it offered in its IPO to get its float away, raising further questions about investor appetite for new issues.

(Reporting by Ben Martin. Editing by Pamela Barbaglia and Jane Merriman)