Arrow Global shares jump in market debut
DEBT collection firm Arrow Global saw a sharp rise during its first day of trading on the London Stock Exchange to value the company at £390m, nine per cent higher than its float price.
Arrow Global had priced its sale of 52.8 per cent of the company at 205p per share when it floated yesterday, the stock opened more than nine per cent higher at 225p and closed up 8.7 per cent at 223p.
“We are delighted that our initial public offering has been successfully received by investors, and we welcome them to the business,” said chief executive Tom Drury in a statement yesterday.
“Our focus now is on continuing to drive growth, leveraging our sophisticated data and analytics capabilities, in order to offer investors a highly cash generative business with significant earnings visibility,” he added.
The Manchester-based company typically buys up personal loans, credit card debt and outstanding mobile phone bills for as little as 10p in the pound.
Arrow – one of the top three operators in its field – then applies its own database to try and track down the original debtor, who is then asked to agree a repayment plan.
The fast-growing company currently manages debt with a face value of approximately £8bn.
The sale raised just under £139m for shareholders selling stock, including the RBS Special Opportunities Fund, and £50m for the company.
RBS Special Opportunities Fund will continue to hold 29.2 per cent stake in Arrow Global following the listing, and has agreed not to sell any further shares for 180 days.
Goldman Sachs acted as global co-ordinator on the offering, and was also a joint bookrunner along with Jefferies.
ADVISERS
PETER KIMPEL
GOLDMAN SACHS
Goldman Sachs – up for bank of the year at the City A.M. Awards in November – is leading on Arrow’s initial public offering as sponsor, global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner. Its team includes Peter Kimpel, Alasdair Warren, Julien Petit, Alex Watkins and Julien Dyon.
Kimpel joined the company in 1992 and spent his first years working out of Goldman’s Frankfurt office, where he advised on internet and technology businesses.
He became a partner at Goldman Sachs in 2010, having previously been head of the company’s German real estate department.
Alasdair Warren was appointed as head of its private equity team for Europe, Middle East and Africa in August. Petit has been with the company since 1999 and Watkins is vice president in Goldman’s equity capital markets team.
Jefferies is joint bookrunner, its team includes Lee Morton and Neil Collingridge.
Meanwhile, legal support comes from City A.M. Awards nominee Slaughter and May, with a team led by partners David Johnson and Richard Smith. Canaccord and Numis are acting as co-lead managers and Lazard is acting as financial adviser to Arrow Global.