Rothschild-backed fintech fund Augmentum plans 100 mln stg London IPO

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Augmentum Fintech (IPO-AUGM.L), a closed-ended investment firm backed by Rothschild firm RIT Capital Partners, plans to raise at least 100 million pounds ($139.69 million) through an initial public offering in London, it said on Tuesday.

The company is looking to issue 100 million ordinary shares with an issue price of one pound, with a maximum size of 125 million, it said in a statement.

Investment trust RIT Capital Partners (Other OTC: RITPF - news) , chaired by Jacob Rothschild, will invest 10 million pounds and the management team will invest 2.7 million pounds.

"The substantial demand for post-seed venture capital funding in the European fintech market is being underserved and the company will be well-positioned to capitalise on the best opportunities available," Neil England, Chairman of Augmentum Fintech said.

Augmentum will acquire an initial portfolio of five fintech investments with a total value of 33.3 million pounds - Zopa, Seedrs, Interactive Investor, BullionVault and SRL Global.

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 pulled planned flotations.

However, Cabot is planning to list in the next few weeks, sources told Reuters earlier this month.

($1 = 0.7159 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn, editing by Sinead Cruise)