Business telecoms group Gamma valued at £165m ahead of float
GAMMA Communications, a UK-based provider of business telecoms services, is due to float with a £165.2m market valuation on Friday after listing its shares with an opening price of 187p.
The sale – which is understood to be priced towards the upper limit of what the company had hoped for – of around 44m shares will see the group raise £82.6m for selling shareholders.
“We are very pleased to announce the successful outcome of this offer, with a high quality group of institutions who we believe will be long term supporters of Gamma,” said Gamma’s chairman Richard Last.
Gamma’s float will be the second largest UK telecoms initial public offering since 2000 based on capital raised, beaten only by Manx Telecom in February.
“Being a public company is an important development for Gamma. We have exciting growth opportunities in our end markets, particularly in the large enterprise market and public sector, and we expect that the higher corporate profile arising from a public company status will help us to continue the momentum we have enjoyed over the past few years,” said chief executive Bob Falconer.
“We are looking forward to life as a listed business. We are confident that our strategy, product portfolio and route to market, will enable us to create value for all our shareholders.”
Strong sales of Gamma’s business broadband, mobile and fixed-line voice services led to a 16 per cent jump in revenues during the first half of the year to £83.6m with underlying profits rising 42 per cent to £10.9m.
BEHIND THE DEAL
INVESTEC | ANDREW PINDER
1 Pinder joined Investec in 2002 having previously worked at Soundview Technology Group and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.
2 He is now head of investment banking and heads the technology, media and telecoms advisory team where he advises companies and private equity funds on transactions.
3 Last year Pinder advised Servelec on its float which was at the time the UK’s biggest tech float for three years, as well as June’s listing of IT firm FDM, which opened with a valuation of £308.5m.
Also advising…
Pinder led a team from Investec, which also included Patrick Robb, Dominic Emery, Matt Lewis and Sebastian Lawrence.