Irish Estates to float on secondary market

BUILDINGS management specialist Irish Estates is to list on the Dublin stock exchange’s secondary market at the end of the month, it was announced yesterday.

Shares in the company, which was acquired late last year from Irish Life & Permanent by a group of private investors, will be admitted to trading on the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) on September 30.

It is also likely to list on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) around the same time.

The sale will allow some of the institutions that backed the deal to cash in on their investment. Around 50% of the company is held by around 10 institutions, which include Davy, Bank of Ireland Asset Management and Riverdeep.

Chairman Niall McFadden, a director of Dublin department store Arnotts and educational software firm Riverdeep, and executive director Martin McMahon are among the major private investors in the group, which was almost doubled in size last December when it was merged with facilities management company Vector.

The combined group employs around 180 people and has 25% of the office property management market and 10% of the facilities management market. It was valued in the region of €30 million immediately after the merger but could be valued at up to €50m when it floats.

Buildings managed by the company include several owned by Irish Life & Permanent and its property funds, as well as British Land, IDA Ireland, Cosgrove Developments, Government departments and University College Cork.

The listing is a fresh coup for the IEX, which was set up earlier this year as a low-cost alternative to cater for small and medium companies seeking to become publicly-quoted. The exchange, which was modelled on the success of London’s AIM, recently welcomed Fitzwilliam Capital and mining company Lapp Plats after struggling to attract new business in its early stages.

The market originally kicked off with eight smaller companies, of which most were exploration companies. Other IEX members include house builder Abbey and electronic learning company Thirdforce.