Edwards seeks $2.1 billion value in float: sources

LONDON (Reuters) - British vacuum technology firm Edwards is seeking a valuation of up to 1.3 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) from a London listing in which its private equity owners will cash in, two sources close to the deal said on Friday.

Edwards, whose technology is used in the manufacture of items from computers and smartphones to x-ray machines and television screens, set a price range of between 200 pence and 270p per share for the listing, the sources said.

Edwards is among a string of companies testing investor demand for new listings, only a week after market volatility derailed two of Europe's largest offerings so far this year.

In the past few days, Russian firms Euroset, a mobile retailer, banking group Nomos and real estate developer Etalon, along with Indian paper maker BILT, have all unveiled plans to list next month, while digital sports media company Perform Group and Austrian aluminum group AMAG have opened the books on their planned floats.

The push by companies to press ahead with their initial public offerings (IPOs) could embolden commodities group Glencore GLEN.UL as it nears a decision on whether to push the button on its own mega-float.

Edwards's IPO, made up entirely of existing shares, will represent the sale of around 35 percent of the company. It will value the group at 1 billion to 1.3 billion pounds, the sources said, making the likely deal size between around 350 million and 450 million pounds.

There will also be an overallotment option of 15 percent.

SALE OR FLOAT

The West Sussex, southern England-based company had hired banks to explore a sale or flotation last September. At that time, its owners CCMP Capital and Unitas Capital valued the business at about 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion).

Sources have said CCMP, Unitas and management will all sell shares in the listing.

Edwards, founded in 1919, recorded revenue of 641 million pounds for the year ended December 31, 59 percent in Asia.

The company works with all of the world's 10 biggest chipmakers including Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.N) and Hynix Semiconductor Inc (000660.KS).

China's push to cut power use is also helping Edwards grow in affiliated businesses such as solar panels and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), Chief Executive Matthew Taylor told Reuters in an interview last September.

Last year, AZ Electronic Materials (AZEM.L), a maker of chemicals used in the iPad, raised 380 million pounds in a London listing and has seen its shares trade strongly since. They are now around 12 percent above their offer price.

Books on the share sale, being run by Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Cazenove, Morgan Stanley and UBS, are expected to close on April 7.

The listing would return Edwards to the public markets more than 40 years after its acquisition in 1968 by industrial gases company BOC, which was taken over by Germany's Linde AG (LING.DE) in 2006.

(Editing by Douwe Miedema and David Holmes)