(Updates with details, background)
AMSTERDAM, Feb 26 (Reuters) - NIBC Holding NV, a Hague-based Dutch bank, will seek an initial public offering of shares in Amsterdam, the company said on Monday.
Its owner, U.S. private equity firm JC Flowers, will seek to sell a 35 percent stake in the flotation “in the coming weeks”, NIBC said in a statement.
Sources told Reuters on Friday the bank could be valued at 1.5-1.8 billion euros in the IPO, a slight discount to its book value of 2 billion euros.
NIBC reported profit of 213 million euros for 2017, with an underlying return on equity of 8.9 percent.
The bank said the IPO was a “logical next step” after years of restructuring, that will raise its profile, help existing shareholders to sell and allow investors to participate.
CEO Paulus de Wilt said the bank is ready to “reap the rewards of the transformational investments we have made over the last four years.”
JC Flowers paid 1.8 billion euros for NIBC when it purchased it from Dutch pension funds in 2005.
The bank is known as a mortgage broker and lender to small and medium-sized corporate borrowers in the Netherlands, Germany, Britain and Belgium.
Since 2008, its retail services arm has grown rapidly, despite competition in the concentrated Dutch banking sector.
JC Flowers had planned to sell NIBC to Iceland’s Kraupthing for 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) in 2008, but was derailed by the financial crisis.
NIBC booked heavy losses on its investments in U.S. subprime mortgage loans, with JC Flowers eventually injecting 400 million euros of equity into the bank.
But as the Dutch economy emerged from seven years of zero growth in 2014, NIBC’s restructuring began to bear fruit and the bank began exploring strategic options in August last year.
Morgan Stanley, Citi and Deutsche Bank are global coordinators for the offering, with ING and ABN Amro joint bookrunners.
Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill