Exclusive: Elixirr seeks London IPO to end coronavirus drought
Management consultancy firm Elixirr, whose clients have included Barclays, O2 and RBS, is seeking a London IPO, ending a two-month drought in flotations on the London Stock Exchange.
Elixirr will seek a listing on London’s junior AIM exchange this summer, Morning Wire can reveal.
The company, founded in 2009, plans to go on an equity-funded buying spree to accelerate its growth as well as to raise its profile, sources close to the discussion said.
A spokesperson for Elixirr confirmed it has appointed advisers to pursue a listing on the AIM market this summer. The company declined to comment on specifics of any fundraising or valuation.
The consultancy firm has appointed broker Finncap to advise on the IPO.
The planned stock market debut would mark the first new listing on the London Stock Exchange in over two months, since venture capital firm Blackfinch listed in early April.
Stock market chaos and uncertainty brought about by the coronavirus pandemic has led to a lull in public listings in recent months.
European listings up to late April raised just €26.2m compared to €6.4bn in 2019, according to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.
Founded in London in 2009, Elixirr has worked with high-profile firms including TfL, Marks and Spencer, and Asos.
The firm has also worked with a number of banks including UBS, Credit Suisse, Citibank and BNP Paribas, according to its website.
The self-described “challenger consultancy” has more than 100 employees bases in nine cities globally, including New York, Sydney, and Cape Town.
Former BT chief executive Gavin Patterson joined Elixirr as its chairman in November.
Elixirr’s most recent available accounts show the company recorded an operating profit of £7.4m in the year ending April 2019, on a turnover of £21.2m.
It snapped up rival Medius Consulting in 2018, and Den Creative a year earlier.
London’s IPO market was flagging even before the coronavirus pandemic sent global markets into a tailspin, with the number of flotations hitting a decade-low in 2019.
But a leading London-based IPO lawyer said firms were “starting to think about kicking off IPO processes again” after adjusting to the initial shock caused by the pandemic.
“People are starting to think that the mere fact that we’re in lockdown is no obstacle to holding an IPO,” the lawyer, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“The IPO market could come back at the start of next year,” they continued, “but I’m not expecting an avalanche of IPOs”.
Christopher Raggett, co-head of corporate finance at Finncap, told Morning Wire: “Elixirr represents exactly the type of growing and ambitious company that the market should seek to attract”.
“The last three months have demonstrated that the public markets are an excellent forum to access capital and we are sure that Elixirr will benefit from entering that arena.”