HSS Hire IPO: Equipment rental company tools up for float with retail offer January 12, 2015 The equipment hire firm is banking on UK economic growth. Equipment rental company HSS Hire yesterday started the engine on a £103m float aimed at selling a quarter of the company’s stake and reducing its £200m debt pile. The listing, like that of the Trainline.com, announced last week, will include a retail offering to [...]
GrandVision IPO: Vision Express owner to list on Euronext January 12, 2015 GrandVision, the Dutch owner of UK glasses specialist Vision Express, announced yesterday it will list on the Euronext in Amsterdam. The initial public offering for the world’s largest optical retailer comprises a secondary offering of 20 to 25 per cent of shares belonging to GrandVision’s founding shareholder, HAL Optical Investments – a subsidiary of Dutch [...]
HSS Hire plans IPO of £103m on London Stock Exchange January 12, 2015 British tool and equipment hire company HSS Hire has announced its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange next month. An estimated £103m is expected to be raised through the sale of shares during the Initial Public Offering (IPO), although the company could be valued at up to £600m. Existing shareholders will [...]
TheTrainline.com IPO: Chief executive Clare Gilmartin is ready to test the markets January 8, 2015 Stock market flotations are very much at the glamorous end of business in the City. Relatively young firms are suddenly exposed to public markets, and gain huge recognition – not to mention financial rewards – for their hard work building the business. It is certainly an adventure for bosses and owners. Visits to investment banks [...]
TheTrainline.com IPO: Train ticket website steams ahead with £500m London flotation January 8, 2015 Train ticket website TheTrainline.com has confirmed plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO). In a statement to the stock market this morning, the private equity-backed site said it hopes to raise £75m, which would value it at around £500m. The company hired investment bank Morgan Stanley in July last year, in the wake of [...]
Virgin Active IPO: London misses out as gym chain plans South Africa float January 7, 2015 Gym chain Virgin Active is looking for investment bankers to run the likely £1.5bn flotation of its shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange over the coming months. A South African sale would be a loss to London, as the brand has a strong presence in the UK. The group traditionally had more sites in the [...]
Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank chief exec quits before flotation January 6, 2015 CLYDESDALE Bank chief executive David Thorburn is standing down after four years at the National Australia Bank (NAB) subsidiary, the bank said yesterday. NAB is selling the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, after poor performance in the UK. Last year, the group had to set aside £420m to pay for payment protection insurance (PPI) claims. But recruiting [...]
Investors feasted on £13.6bn in London-listed IPOs last year January 6, 2015 Hungry investors feasted on billions of pounds in initial public offerings (IPOs) on the London Stock Exchange last year. In 2014 around 104 plucky issuers raised a total of £13.6bn on London's main and AIM markets. This represented a 10 per cent increase from the previous year's activity according to data from Thomson Reuters. Throughout the [...]
Rocky year ahead for flotations as market uncertainty reigns January 5, 2015 THE GENERAL Election in the UK and turmoil abroad could shake the equity capital markets in 2015, JP Morgan’s regional boss told City A.M. Vis Raghavan expects some flotations to take off strongly in any case, but predicts more marginal firms to either hold off floats or cut the price of their stock when volatility strikes. “You [...]
Hong Kong stock exchange chief exec Charles Li writes to Santa to lament loss of Alibaba IPO December 22, 2014 Writing a letter to Santa: At primary school it’s expected, for early teens it’s understandable, for sixth formers it’s a little strange. But for the chief executive of one of the world’s biggest stock exchanges it’s downright bizarre and just a bit bonkers. Charles Li, chief executive of the Hong Kong stock exchange [...]