Lastminute.com, the internet travel and leisure retailer, has completed its first public transaction since replacing Morgan Stanley with Cazenove as its broker in early 2001.

Two years after its high-profile flotation at the height of the internet boom, the firm returned to the public markets for the first time to sell 9.6 million new shares on Thursday. All the shares were bought by institutional investors and the publicity which defined the initial public offering was noticeably lacking.