Flurry of flotations sparks fees windfall
TV masts firm is the latest to plan stock market listing
A CITY fees bonanza is on the horizon as a flurry of companies plot stock market listings.
Telecoms tower firm Arqiva, which owns radio and TV transmission masts and counts the BBC, ITV and mobile phone operators among its customers, outlined plans yesterday to join the London Stock Exchange in a £6bn deal next month.
It is the latest company to announce a big UK float in recent weeks, with bosses seeking to raise £1.5bn initially to pay down debts.
Others include Russia’s EN+, debt collector Cabot, services firm TMF Group and auto parts maker TI Fluid Systems.
The flotations are set to trigger multiple paydays for City advisers including bankers, lawyers and PR executives.
The deal announced yesterday would give Arqiva a market value of £4.5bn, or £6bn with debt, meaning it is likely to enter the FTSE 100 index. It would also resolve a controversial financing structure that has seen the company – owned by ‘vampire kangaroo’ investor Macquarie and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board – criticised for the amount of taxes it pays. The firm has struggled under more than £2bn of debts to shareholders, posting losses of £1.2bn over the past four years, but the float will convert much of this into equity.
Arqiva’s network includes about 8,000 masts, used for radio, TV, mobile and the ‘internet of things’, as well as emergency and security communications. The company promised generous dividends for shareholders and pledged to invest in fibre broadband cables and 5G mobile internet technology. Rothschild is advising on the float, with HSBC, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan helping to coordinate it abroad.
Listing activity in the City is certainly gathering pace. Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium and hydropower business EN+ is also planning to raise around £1bn by joining the London and Moscow stock exchanges next month. Citigroup, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, SIB, VTB Capital, BMO Capital Markets, JSC Gazprombank, Societe Generale, UBS and Atonline are all working on the float.
Debt collector Cabot Credit Management announced its intention to go public last week in a £1bn float which Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley , Jefferies, Numis and Lazard are working on.
But the biggest prize for investment banks could be oil giant, Saudi Aramco. Its chief executive yesterday insisted the IPO was still on course for next year, despite doubts. A plan to float 5pc has investors salivating over the prospect of a £1.6 trillion valuation.