Foxtons, known for its racing green Minis and aggressive sales tactics, was one of the first companies to take part in London’s IPO revival, which has seen the City have the highest number of flotations since before the financial crisis during the first half of the year.
BC Partners sold a 7.8pc stake of the company in May after the lock-up period expired at around 312p.
A number of private equity firms are expected to follow BC Partners in slicing their stakes in newly floated businesses. Private equity backed companies have counted for the majority of listings such as Poundland, Pets at Home, Saga, Spire Healthcare.
However, the buyout groups are usually required to not sell down any more shares for 180 days after a flotation in so-called lock-up periods. After a rush of company listings at the start of the year, a number of these lock-ups will soon expire which means that there will be a wave of block trades.
Last month Foxtons reported a set of bumper first half results with core earnings of £24.9m, and an improving earnings margin up 330 basis points to 34.pc.
The strong results enabled the group to pay a maiden interim dividend of 1.77p and a special interim dividend of 2.77p, totalling £12.8m, which BC also profited from.
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