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Davenham Group, an asset-based lender to small and medium-sized companies, hopes to raise £27.5 million by floating on AIM in the near future, with the aid of broker Panmure Gordon.

Existing shareholders in Manchester-based Davenham intend to take the opportunity of the AIM float to sell a hefty £50 million-worth of shares in the company, between 62 per cent and 54 per cent of the Davenham's expected float value of £80-to-£92 million. Hawkpoint is to be nominated adviser to the issue, which chief executive David Coates says will help the company expand from its northern base into the midlands and south.

Coates maintains Davenham is 'well positioned to capitalise on the significant number of attractive growth opportunities in its market place'. The company, whose loans range in size from £10,000 to £3 million, provides short-term finance against residential and commercial property, loans averaging 30 months against a corporate client's assets such as plant, machinery, equipment and vehicles, and varieties of trade, deal and invoice finance.

David Stewart, 60, a director of property asset management group Fletcher King, has newly joined the board of Davenham, whose loan portfolio rose from £93.5 million to £151.1 million in the two years to last June. Davenham's profit before tax and interest on loan notes and mezzanine debt increased from £5.8 million to £9.3 million over the same period, on loan income up from £15.9 million to £28.4 million.

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