19th Jul 2006 07:01
Arden Partners plc19 July 2006 For immediate release 19 July 2006 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, MEXICO OR THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. ARDEN PARTNERS PLC FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS Arden Partners plc ("Arden" or the "Company"), the research-led institutionaland corporate stockbroking firm, announces that the Company's shares have todaybeen admitted to trading on AIM. The Company's trading symbol is 'ARDN'. Highlights of the Placing: £3.0 million (£2.2 million net of expenses) has been raised for Arden via aplacing at 162 pence per share £12.4 million has been raised on behalf of selling shareholders On admission the market capitalisation of Arden at the placing price will be £40million The net proceeds of the placing will be used for working capital proceeds The Business Arden is an institutional stockbroking company which commenced trading inNovember 2002. Its business consists of corporate finance, equity research,equity sales and market making activities. The Company provides broking servicesto, and advises on, a range of corporate finance transactions for small andmedium sized companies in the UK. Since its inception, Arden has experienced a year-on-year increase in revenuesacross all of its business streams. The Directors believe that the Company has astrong reputation, as evidenced by a recent survey of UK small-capitalisationfund managers undertaken by the Investors Chronicle, where Arden was rankedeighth out of the top 30 AIM brokers. In the year ended 31 October 2005, Arden raised £82.4 million on IPOs for itsclients and £87.6 million in other fundraisings in a total of 13 transactions.In the current year, as at 30 April 2006, the Company has raised £58.6 millionon IPOs and £19.0 million in other fundraisings in a total of six transactions. Of the 33 companies to which Arden was appointed broker, nominated adviser orfinancial adviser as at 14 June 2006, 22 were companies trading on AIM and 11were quoted on the Official List and their combined market capitalisation atthat date was £3.7 billion. Arden had approximately 160 institutional clients asat 30 April 2006 and is developing relations with an increasing number of hedgefunds. The main body of the research and institutional sales team at Arden has beentogether for approximately 15 years, having first worked together at Albert ESharp Securities in Birmingham and then at Old Mutual Securities following OldMutual Securities' acquisition of Albert E Sharp Securities. As at 14 June 2006, Arden employed 44 personnel, 16 of whom were located inLondon and 2 of whom were located in Bristol. The remaining 26 members of staffwere based in the Company's Birmingham office. Altium Capital Limited acts as both Nominated Adviser and Broker to Arden. Tony Bartlett, CEO of Arden, commented: "We are extremely pleased to have successfully completed our flotation on AIM.The response from institutional investors to the fundraising reflects thestrength of Arden's position in the broking marketplace. We believe thislisting will help the Company execute our business plan for the benefit of allshareholders and we look forward to updating our shareholders, old and new, onour progress in due course." For further information, please contact: Arden Partners plc 0121 423 8990Tony Bartlett, Trevor Norris, Jonathan Keeling Altium Capital Limited 0207 484 4040Garry Levin, Marc Milmo, Sam Fuller Buchanan Communications Limited 0207 466 5000Richard Oldworth, Mark Edwards, Nick Melson This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
ARDN.L