Broker finnCap’s (PRIVATE:FINN) shares started trading on the London Stock Exchange’s junior AIM market on Wednesday.
The float follows last month’s announcement that the broker had agreed to buy advisory firm Cavendish Corporate Finance for £14mln and planned to float the combined business on AIM.
READ: Platform allows retail investors to subscribe to finnCap’s upcoming IPO
Based on a placing price of 28p per share, the broker will have a market capitalisation of around £47.1mln, following a successful total placing of some £5.0mln before expenses.
The placing consists of a £3.75mln placing of new money which will be used to partially fund the acquisition of Cavendish, which will complete on admission, and £1.25mln on behalf of selling shareholders to realise part of their investment in the company, finnCap said in a statement.
Grant Thornton is acting as nominated adviser and finnCap Limited is acting as broker to the company.
The Cavendish acquisition brings together two of the City’s most established names and comes amid a regulatory shakeup of the broking sector.
New EU rules changing the way brokers can charge clients for research have hit revenues, prompting a consolidation in the industry.
Last month brokers SP Angel and Northland Capital announced they were in talks about a possible merger. In September, Sky News reported that Spanish bank Banco Santander was in talks to buy stockbroker Peel Hunt.