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EasyJet sets IPO pricing
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October 31, 2000: 6:48 a.m. ET
No-frills British airline values itself at $817M; aims to raise $274M in IPO
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LONDON (CNNfn) - British budget airline easyJet PLC on Tuesday valued itself at around £564 million ($817 million) ahead of its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.
EasyJet set the price range between 250 and 350 pence a share for the November listing. At the midpoint that would to raise about £189 million. The money will be used to pay for new aircraft.
Europe's second-largest low-cost airline is selling 63 million shares, or about a quarter of the company's enlarged equity.
"Flotation will allow us to maximize the potential for growth in our business by helping fund our planned new Boeing 737-700 purchases," Stelios Haji-Iannou, easyJet chairman and founder, said in a statement.
The no-frills airline's valuation came within analysts' expectations.
EasyJet will announce an updated and narrower price range the week ending Nov. 10. The airline has the option to increase the number of shares offered by up to 9.45 million. No existing shareholders planned to sell shares in the IPO.
EasyJet's principal rivals in the budget sector include Ireland's Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYA), British Airways' subsidiary GO, and KLM unit Buzz.
"We do not claim to be the cheapest, but we aim to offer good value. We take passengers to the convenient points they want to get to and offer high frequency," easyJet Chief Executive Ray Webster told Reuters. His airline earned a pretax profit of £22 million on revenues of £263 million in the year ended Sept. 30. The airline carried 5.6 million passengers in the year.
Easyjet and Ryanair have modelled themselves on U.S. low cost carrier Southwest Airlines Inc. �(LUV: Research, Estimates) regularly undercutting rival airfares and saving money by often flying to less popular airports. 
--from staff and wire reports
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