The SimplyBiz Group will float on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) today in a move which values the company at £130m.
More than 76m shares will be admitted to the Aim this morning (4 March) each valued at £1.70, with 49.9 per cent of SimplyBiz ending up in public hands after the IPO.
SimplyBiz said it has conditionally raised £30m before expenses from an institutional placing of more than 17m shares and it will raise £34.6m for selling shareholders through a placing of another 20m shares.
Founder Ken Davy, who is now 76, will use the IPO to release some of his stake in the business, although his family trust will retain 40 per cent and he remains non-executive chairman.
When the IPO was announced last month, Matt Timmins, the joint chief executive if SimplyBiz, said advisers who use the company would be offered share options depending on how long they had been customers.
SimplyBiz provides compliance and regulation services for more than 3,400 directly authorised member firms which pay a monthly subscription, including 2,200 IFA firms with responsibility for an aggregated £40bn of assets under administration.
Since 2010 the company's revenues have grown 366 per cent to £44m and it posted a profit after tax of £4.8m in 2017.
damian.fantato@ft.com
