Dublin property company to list on London market

ELY Property will list on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) tomorrow, the Dublin-based property services group said yesterday.

The listing will value the company, which specialises in ‘sale and lease back’ schemes, in the region of €10 million.

It generated pre-tax profits of €618,000 in the six months to April 2005.

Chief executive and founder Philip Marley, who will retain 60% of the business after the listing takes place, said the company was well placed to offer investors lower-risk exposure to the residential property sector.

“The group’s investment package offers the security of investing into a reduced-risk buy-to-let market,” said Mr Marley who, at 33, will be one of the youngest heads of an Irish publicly-quoted company.

“As such, it is one of the first property companies to offer a full cycle of residential and student property services to investors on a reduced-risk buy-to-let basis.”

The company’s three main units comprise a student accommodation division and dedicated property management businesses for buy-to-let investors in both Ireland and Britain. It plans to target other countries in the near future and leverage off the skills it has developed in Ireland, where it benefited from a range of tax-driven incentive schemes that aimed to improve the supply of student accommodation.

British corporate finance house Corporate Synergy will act as Ely’s nominated adviser and broker.

Companies listing on AIM are required to appoint outside firms to these roles in return for regulatory requirements that are considered less onerous than those applying to companies on the main London Stock Exchange.