Dunedin cashes in as Alpha AIM float raises £125m

Specialist consultancy services firm Alpha Financial Markets Consulting, which was previously owned by Edinburgh investment house Dunedin, has started trading on London’s AIM market, raising £125.4 million through an initial public offering.

In a statement, Dunedin said it has sold all of its stake in Alpha as part of the IPO.

The sale booked proceeds of £16.7 million for Dunedin, providing a GBP7.7 million uplift, equal to 37.5 pence per share.

Dunedin shares were up 1.0 per cent on Wednesday at 425.66 pence.

The AIM float come less than two years after Dunedin acquired the business from Baird Capital, the private equity arm of Robert W Baird & Co, which had owned Alpha since October 2013.

Alpha was valued at £28m when Baird took over, but when it moved to Dunedin in February 2016 that valuation had risen to around £80m.

Alpha, which serves the asset and wealth management industry, including clients such as Standard Life Aberdeen and Artemis, placed 22 million new shares and admitted 56.4 million existing shares - at 160 pence per share with institutional investors as part of the IPO.

The company now has 102.2 million shares issued overall.

Shares in Alpha Financial Markets Consulting were trading up 6.3 per cent at 170.00 pence on Wednesday.

The management and employees will hold 23 per cent of the total issued share capital of the company.

Alpha chief executive officer, Euan Fraser, said: “We are delighted to begin this new chapter as a public company on AIM. We are very confident that being a public company will best suit our future growth objectives and allow us to build on the fabulous culture we have created at Alpha. We look forward to continuing our geographic and market expansion in the asset and wealth management sector. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our fantastic team of consultants. We have created a wonderful reputation for quality and this success is a testament to their commitment and hard work.”

Berenberg is acting as sole global coordinator and broker for the deal and Grant Thorton is acting as nominated adviser to the company.