AIM listings for global yachting group and financial advisory business
The Manchester office of law firm Eversheds Sutherland has advised on two AIM listings in one week, involving a global yachting group and a financial advisory business.
Wilmslow-based financial advisory business Tatton Asset Management has been admitted to trade on the AIM market today (July 6), with an initial public offering that values the business at £87.2m.
Founded in 2007, Tatton Asset Management, comprising DFM Tatton Capital and Paradigm Partners, provides services to the FCA authorised financial adviser marketplace.
The business employs more than 4,000 advisers, with revenues of £11.9m in the year to March 31, 2017 and an operating profit of £5.5m.
The flotation has raised £50m, marking a partial exit for existing shareholders, as well as providing funding for future growth, with the institutional placings resulting in 63.5% of the company being publicly held.
The IPO marks a “significant milestone” for the next stage of this group’s development, according to Simon Masters, head of the Manchester corporate team at Eversheds Sutherland.
“These have been two great opportunities for Zeus Capital and we have very much enjoyed working with Dan Bate, Martin Green and Giles Balleny and the team at Zeus in helping to deliver these flotations,” he said.
“Deals like this just go to show that the appetite of investors in the current market is becoming more diverse and businesses in new sectors such as these are viewed as undiscovered investment potential.”
The Manchester team also advised Zeus Capital as nomad and broker on the admission of GYG, a superyacht painting, supply and maintenance company headquartered in Palma, Mallorca, employing 472 people within operations throughout the US, Mediterranean and Northern Europe.
Its clients include 25 of the largest 50 superyachts across the globe.
The deal sees the company raise £28.4m, with a market capitalisation on admission of £46.6m. The funds raised included £6.9m for the company, which will be used to strengthen the balance sheet through the repayment of existing debt, to support potential acquisitions, manage increased and larger-scale orders and to raise the group’s profile in new and existing markets.
The balance of approximately £21.5m will provide a partial exit for existing shareholders including both management and the company’s private equity shareholder, Lonsdale Capital Partners.
Masters led the Eversheds Sutherland team, which also included Nicola Brookes with assistance from associates Annika Unsworth and Laura Evans.
Masters said: “We are very pleased to have advised Zeus Capital on the flotation of this fairly unusual but exciting business. As an international law firm, we were pleased to be able to provide Zeus Capital with support from our Spanish, German and Dutch based offices.”
Dan Bate, director of corporate finance at Zeus Capital, Manchester, added: “The listings are expected to enhance their public profile with existing and potential clients, as well as provide access to permanent capital. GYG has demonstrated its entrepreneurial nature in recent years, and has now become a global market leader within a competitive and fast-moving sector.”
