Exova valuation could reach as high as £650m
EXOVA, a laboratory-based testing company, has said its valuation might be as high as £650m, according to the advisers to its forthcoming London flotation.
The indicative price range for the Edinburgh-based company, which works mainly for oil and gas, aerospace and other transport industries, is 210p to 260p.
The management team is led by Ian El-Mokadem, a former Compass executive. He and the rest of the management team own around five per cent of the equity.
The company, which last year made earnings before interest, tax and amortisation of £48.1m on sales of £279m, is being sold by private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, which will retain a stake in the business.
It is still unclear what stake the management and the private equity investors are planning on selling. After the float, which will raise about £110m, there will be a free float of about 30 per cent. The joint global co-ordinators, sponsors and book-runners are Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs. Barclays is also a joint bookrunner and Rothschild is also an adviser to the deal.
Despite the presence of Barclays, which is generally supportive of a retail element, the issue is exclusively for institutional investors.