Float sweet news for HansonWesthouse
THE Yorkshire office of broker HansonWesthouse has led the successful $50m (£24.3) fund-rasing for the AIM flotation of a company that supplies a sweetener to Coca-Cola.
Tim Feather, the Leeds-based director of HansonWesthouse, handled the flotation which saw Malaysian group PureCircle float on the Alternative Investment Market yesterday valued at $456m (£222m).
PureCircle develops and manufactures natural food ingredients for the global food and beverage industry and its lead product is Rebaudioside-A, or Reb-A, a natural, zero-calorie high intensity sweetener which is extracted from the stevia plant.
The product is attracting the interest of food and drinks giants as it is natural, more than 200 times sweeter than sugar and has a low glycemic index making it suitable for diabetics.
PureCircle supplies Reb-A to US food and agriculture giant Cargill, which with Coca-Cola, launched a new a new calorie-free natural sweetener called Rebiana in May.
The fund-raising was at 170p a share, the shares closed at 187p last night.
The £24.3m raised will be used by PureCircle to expand its production operations.
Mr Feather said: “HansonWesthouse is committed to helping high quality growth companies achieve their ambitions. To raise this amount of money in a very difficult market is a testament to PureCircle's outstanding prospects and strength of management. We look forward to helping the company develop its business in the future.”
Magomet Malsagov, managing director of PureCircle, said: “We are delighted to have raised the funds we need to grow the business, to meet the rapidly increasing demand from some of the world's biggest food and beverage companies and to maintain our crucial first mover advantage in this market.
“This was particularly notable given the current difficult market conditions. We look forward to reporting on further progress over the coming months and welcome our new shareholders aboard.”
HansonWesthouse is an independent, specialist corporate broking and advisory firm, formed last year from the merger of corporate finance firms Hanson Capital – created by the families of the late Yorkshire business legends Lord Hanson and Lord White – and Westhouse Securities. It is chaired by Lord Hanson's son Robert.
