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U.K. thrift set for $4B IPO
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April 26, 1999: 11:50 a.m. ET
Bradford & Bingley members defy management call, vote for bank status
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Bradford & Bingley, Britain's second-largest building society, is set to convert into a bank, worth some 2.5 billion pounds ($4 billion) and float on the stock market following the result a vote by members announced Monday.
The poll is the latest in a series that have shrunk the ranks of mutually-owned U.K. savings and loan institutions. Investors and lenders have opted for windfall pay-outs from flotation while executives have sought to ride the wave of consolidation in the financial sector.
Bradford & Bingley Chairman Lindsay Mackinlay said more than 62 percent of the 1.5 million mail votes cast had backed the switch, which he said will take more than 12 months to complete. Management had opposed the plan to demutualize.
B&B members now must choose between a stock market float or a possible takeover for the institution, which has 3 million members.
Halifax (HFX) and Abbey National (ANL), two former mutuals that converted over the past two years to emerge among the most powerful U.K. financial institutions, are likely to be among the possible bidders. 
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