At a hearing last week it emerged the banks and Cable considered raising the initial price from 330p a share by 20p — around £200 million — just days before the stock was sold. Cable said there was too much “potential risk” in hiking the price, as long-term institutional investors might not have bought had it gone over 330p. But today Adrian Bailey, chairman of the Commons business select committee, said: “It was 20 times oversubscribed at 330p, [so it is] impossible to believe that all of that interest would evaporate over even 30, 40 pence more”.
