UK Road haulage company Eddie Stobart has announced its intention to float on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) as part of a revenue raising exercise.
According to the Financial Times, Eddie Stobart aims to raise around £130 million (€150 million) to pay down existing debts, fund future growth and complete a bolt-on acquisition to strengthen its activities in the e-commerce sector.
The company will be renamed as Eddie Stobart Logistics ahead of the April-scheduled float.
The Stobart Group sold 51 per cent of its stake in Eddie Stobart in March 2014, in order to give the business the opportunity to move to the next phase of its development with a new management team and investor base, while the Group focussed its resources towards delivering on the potential of its Energy, Aviation, Rail and Infrastructure divisions.
“The Board is pleased that this strategy is bearing fruit across the Group, that Eddie Stobart has performed strongly since the Group’s partial realisation and that the Group’s interest in Eddie Stobart continues to create considerable value for the Group’s shareholders,” the Group said.
“The Board has indicated its preference to retain a meaningful stake in the Company following its IPO, reflecting the two groups’ on-going shared interests and the Company’s prospects.”
The Alternative Investment Market, now almost exclusively referred to as AIM, is a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange that was launched in June 1995 to allow smaller companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market.