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The PLUS market opportunity

Alfred Henry Corporate Finance (AHCF) is a specialist boutique assisting small and medium-sized firms to launch on PLUS.

The advisory firm has been working with lawyers, accountants, brokers and other advisers for ten years, moving from providing guidance on fund-raising placements to focusing almost entirely on listings.

The most recent listing was Ace Liberty & Stone, a company building a commercial and residential property investment portfolio, focusing on property trading and development. Alfred Henry incorporated the company, helped the directors establish the required board structure and corporate governance procedures for a PLUS listing, re-registered the company as a plc and oversaw its first acquisition.

One of AHCF’s first clients, Fishworks, went on to list onto AIM two years ago, shortly after joining PLUS. AHCF is currently working with eight clients it took through the listing process.

AHCF’s director Jon Isaacs said of PLUS’s advantages: “The £75,000 cost of joining PLUS is far more reasonable than an AIM float’s cost of £250,000. Another strength of PLUS is its growing market and the cessation of the current newstrack system; from 2008 all announcements will be sent via the main news agencies including Bloomberg and Reuters. This will benefit PLUS in terms of investor awareness. It is also more practical to join PLUS in terms of regulatory requirements and level of red tape, making it an attractive alternative to AIM.”

London transaction services team launched

Tenon Group, one of the UK’s top ten accountancy firms, has started a transaction services team in London. The new team represents a natural evolution of Tenon’s successful regional corporate finance business, which has been active in the London market for some time.

Jonathan Wade and Lee Castledine co-lead the London team and are based in Tenon’s London Chiltern Street office. Wade has been a key member of the national transaction services team since its formation while Castledine joins the London team after several years with a Big Four private equity transaction services group in London.

They are joined by Preman Menon and Nathalie Simpson who also have Big Four backgrounds, with further high-calibre appointments to be announced.

The business focuses on grooming corporates for capital transactions, including AIM flotations, and developing services to clients, banks and mid-market private equity houses in London. As well as providing fully integrated financial, commercial and management due diligence and high quality reporting accountant services.

Recent transactions include the flotations of Melior plc and MobilityOne plc and the reverses of Mobile Doctors and the Cains Beer Co. Tenon’s AIM Services proactively assist high-growth entrepreneurial businesses to find a path to market.

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