Ocado is understood to have secured orders for about 80% of the shares it is seeking to sell in its flotation.
The etail grocer is confident it will list within its £800m-£1.2bn valuation, although it is likely to be at the bottom end of this range. It is likely to sell the shares at about 200p, having set the range at 200p-275p.
A person familiar with the situation told the Financial Times: “It is coming together nicely.”
The final price is to be decided after the markets close today. Ocado’s management, led by chief executive Tim Steiner, met potential investors in Amsterdam and will meet with investors in London today. They were in the US meeting investors last week.
The City is divided over Ocado’s IPO with many believing the valuation is too high as the retailer has not yet made a pre-tax profit. Many have said Ocado is worth no more than £500m.
The £200m sale of new equity is believed to be covered but the volume of share sales by the existing investors will depend on demand in the final hours before pricing. IPOs often attract a wave of orders in the final hours of the process.
Some suggested that Ocado was short of investors at this stage partly because its customers, who were offered up to £12,000 worth of shares each, have largely shunned the IPO. Take up from customers has been £6m-£10m, according to sources, against initial estimations of up to £50m.
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