ADVERTISEMENT

Broker Peel Hunt’s $154 Million AIM Listing Adds to London Boom

Broker Peel Hunt’s $154 Million AIM Listing Adds to London Boom

City of London broker Peel Hunt and its holders raised 112 million pounds ($154 million) in a placing ahead of its listing next week, as the firm joins plenty of its clients in tapping the public markets this year.

The firm, which is returning to London’s AIM market more than two decades after it was first floated, priced its offering at 228 pence per share, valuing the company at 280 million pounds, it said in a statement Friday.

The firm -- named after its founders Charlie Peel and Chris Hunt -- is set to raise 40 million pounds from the offering. The company plans to use proceeds to expand in Europe, invest in technology and fund regulatory and working capital needs.

Selling shareholders will get 72 million pounds from the offering. The firm was briefly quoted on the AIM from February 2000 until Belgian financial group KBC Bank NV bought it at the end of that year. A decade later a consortium of staff and external investors carried out a buyout.

Peel Hunt, which was established in 1989, provides broking, advisory and trading house services for small- and medium-sized publicly traded companies. The firm, which had revenue of 197 million pounds in the 12 months to March, had 157 corporate clients at the end of August, with its research distributed to more than 1,200 institutions.

Its listing comes after its business was boosted by the pandemic, with clients turning to the markets to raise cash. The new stock is set to start trading on Sept. 29.

Stifel’s Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Peel Hunt are joint global coordinators on the offering. Grant Thornton is the nominated adviser, and Evercore Partners the financial adviser.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.