What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
NEX Exchange
Whetstone Capital No raise. Due 5 January 2018. Mkt Cap £1.6m. Investment Vehicle for small and mid sized private and public companies.
AIM
Cradle Arc—holding company of a group of companies focused on the exploration and development of precious and base metals projects in Africa. Offer raising £2.4m with market cap of £20.25m. Expected 10 Jan 2018
Volex (LON:VLX)—The global provider of cable assemblies is proposing to move from the main market to AIM on 19 January. £75m market cap. FYMar18E rev £241.5m and £7.19m PBT.
OnTheMarket —Intention to float on AIM to raise c.£50m which will be used to fund the growth of the OnTheMarket.com portal, already the third biggest UK residential property portal provider. Expected valuation £200m to £250m.
Main Market Premium Listing
GEMS Education—report by Reuters that the private schools group is seeking a $4.5bn to $5bn London float in 2018. FYAug17 rev $926.2m and adjusted EBITDA $261.6m.
Vivo Energy—The Africa-focused company, which operates around 1,800 Shell forecourts across 16 countries reported by City A.M. to be preparing for a London float next year
Breakfast buffet
Midatech (LON:MTPH) 36p £21.99m
Midatech, the international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising products in oncology, announced that it has entered into a 4 year Senior secured loan agreement with MidCap Financial of up to $15m.
Midatech has received an initial tranche of $7m. The issuance of further tranches under the Facility is dependent on clinical development milestones set out for MTD201 and MTX110. The funds will be used to support progression towards these and other value-driving product milestones.
Active Energy (LON:AEG) 2.45p £20.89m
Active Energy, the international biomass based renewable energy and forestry management business, announced that the first testing of the 5 tonne-per-hour CoalSwitch™ plant in Utah, United States was successfully completed late on 29 Dec 2017. The initial results met all management expectations and further testing will continue this week.
The plant is now undergoing full commissioning which Active Energy expects to complete in the next several weeks, which will enable the Company to deliver commercial quantities of CoalSwitch™, its revolutionary fuel that that can be mixed in any ratio with coal fines or completely replace coal in existing coal-fired power stations, without retrofit, globally.
CVS Group (LON:CVSG) 1,054p £675.16m
CVS, the provider of integrated veterinary services, announced the appointment of Deborah Kemp to the position of NED with immediate effect.
Deborah has a background of demonstrable commercial success, operating in a variety of roles in the consumer and hospitality sectors. Since 2015, she has been a director of Vennco Limited, a consultancy which specialises in the consumer facing, retail and hospitality sectors, and assists multi-site business through growth, change and transformation. In September 2017, Deborah became Interim CEO of private equity backed Synseal Group, a UK-leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality products to the fenestration industry, having supported the group in the development of its growth plans in recent months.
Thalassa (LON:THAL) 96p £19.4m
Further to the Company's announcement on 19 Dec 2017, the board of directors of Thalassa announced that the sale of the assets of WGP to Fairfield Industries Incorporated, doing business as FairfieldNodal, Inc. ("FFN"), has completed. As previously announced, the Board expects that the proposed investment by FFN in Autonomous Robotics Ltd will be concluded by no later than 31 Mar 2018.
"We are excited about the expertise, talent and track record of strong project execution we gain with the WGP acquisition. WGP's proven technology and operational capabilities around active reservoirs make them a natural fit into the FairfieldNodal suite of services. We look forward to working with the WGP team, combining forces to provide customers with seamless reservoir services and increasing our collective value proposition."
DagangHalal (AQSE:DGHL) 26.5p £18.6m
DagangHalal, the world's first global e-marketplace to address the need for Halal verification, announced that its mobile app MEEMBAR is now available on the Android platform
Meembar means 'raised platform' in Arabic and the app is designed to give Muslims a raised view of the Islamic lifestyle in their current location and is targeted particularly at travellers. The app aims to give detailed information about Halal eateries, mosques, hotels and rest places and allows users to provide feedback and comments for the benefit of other users.
The app is expected to be available on the IoS platform during Q1 of 2018 before being formally launched at the 9th Halal Certification Bodies Convention in Putrajaya, Malaysia in April 2018.
The focus of MEEMBAR initially will be to build an active user base across the two mobile operating platforms before introducing a transactional capability to the app at a later stage.
Mobile Streams (LON:MOS) 2.75p £2.52m
Mobile Streams, the emerging markets focused mobile media company, announced the appointment of Jonathan Bill to its board as a NED with effect from 1 Jan 2018.
Jonathan worked at Vodafone from 2002 to 2013 initially starting as Head of Internet Services in the UK before becoming Director of Internet and Data Services for Vodafone Egypt. In 2009 Jonathan became Head of Emerging Markets, Vodafone Group Marketing for Vodafone Group before being appointed as Senior Vice President of Internet Services & Innovation at Vodafone Essar Limited in India. In this last role he played a key part in developing Vodafone India's internet and data strategy focused on 23 local markets and 150 million customers. Since leaving Vodafone, Jonathan has remained in India and has launched a number of start up businesses, including BillBachao, an online mobile prepay recharge website and data usage app which was subsequently sold in September 2015. Jonathan is currently the CEO and co-founder of CreditMate, an Indian fintech company focused on providing finance for the used motorcycle market in India.
Mereo BioPharma (LON:MPH) 325p £231.059m
Mereo BioPharma Group, a multi-asset biopharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialisation of innovative therapeutics that aim to improve outcomes for patients with rare and specialty diseases, announced that on Dec 29, 2017 it drew down the second and final £10m tranche of the credit facility set up in August 2017 with Silicon Valley Bank and Kreos Capital.
With its existing cash position, together with this drawdown of the remainder of its credit facility, Mereo has a strong balance sheet with sufficient cash resources to fund its key clinical programmes.
The terms are as previously disclosed and are typical for facilities of this type and include an interest only period to Sept 30, 2018, a 30-month capital and interest repayment period thereafter, a competitive high single digit headline interest rate and customary security over assets of the Group.