Brothel flotation set to arouse investors' interest

IF SEX sells, now's a good time to flog it to investors while they mourn the poor performance of most of their investments.

That’s the thinking of Australia’s largest brothel, the Daily Planet, which yesterday unveiled plans to list its property arm in a bid to build the world’s largest floated sex empire.

If the plan succeeds, the Melbourne-based Daily Planet says it would be the world’s first listed bordello next to other publicly-traded sex industry companies, led by German sex store chain Beate Uhse.

“Because the old saying that sex sells is so true, because the adult industry is so massively popular and profitable, we believe the opportunities are unlimited,” said Andrew Harris, one of the Daily Planet’s three directors.

Prostitution is legal in some parts of Australia, but with certain curbs on it.

Amid the doom of plunging equity markets, the directors are confident stock in the gaudy property will arouse enthusiastic interest.

“It’s a novelty raising that may just perk the market up,” Mr Harris said.

Daily Planet owner John Trimble, who set up the business in 1975, plans a A$50 million initial public offering to float on the Australian Stock Exchange in the next six to 12 months, which would be the company’s second attempt at listing. It aborted its first try at going public in 1994 in the face of state legislation that would have subjected all investors in sex-related businesses to police checks.