(Alliance News) - Electra Private Equity PLC on Friday unveiled plans to demerge and list portfolio company TGI Fridays on the London Main Market this year.
Portfolio business Hotter Shoes will be floating on the junior AIM market by way of the reclassification of Electra, so that it becomes the listing vehicle for the footwear retailer.
The planned initial public offering date of TGI's is in the third quarter of this year, while Hotter Shoes will list in the fourth quarter.
Hotter Shoes buys, manufactures and sells footwear, while TGI's is the UK franchise of an American themed restaurant chain.
Electra said it had decided to keep the two companies on the stock market rather than sell them outright because it was the "optimal outcome for shareholders", due to the companies "potential for further significant longer term value creation".
"The new management teams at our two remaining larger portfolio assets, Fridays and Hotter, have performed admirably through the pandemic, not just sustaining their businesses in the most difficult circumstances, but also transforming them," said Chair Neil Johnson.
TGI Fridays and Hotter Shoes are Electra's two largest remaining portfolio assets. In April it sold its Sentinel business for GBP22 million to Aalberts.
Also reporting half year results on Friday, Electra reported a net asset value at March 31 of GBP196.9 million, up from GBP135.3 million in September. The valuation total of its three largest investments is now above pre Covid-19 levels, it said.
NAV per share as at March 31 was 514.3p, up from 353.4p at the end of September.
Shares in Electra were up 4.7% at 534.00 pence in London on Friday morning.
By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com
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