Camden Market goes from T-shirts to shares with London listing
LONDON (Reuters) - The owner of London's Camden Market, a popular destination for young tourists buying retro clothing, is to list on the city's stock exchange this month and raise up to 100 million pounds.
Market Tech Holdings Limited is set to become the biggest company to list on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) this year, valuing the business at 750 million pounds, the company said on Monday.
The group of real estate assets is backed by Israeli billionaire and Teddy Sagi, the Israeli who founded online gambling software company Playtech.
Sagi bought the Camden Stables Market site in north London in March for 400 million pounds. He purchased another section called Camden Lock Market in October for 100 million, bringing them under single ownership for the first time.
Sagi will not be selling any of his holding, the company said.
The 11-acre site by the Regent's Canal attracts 28 million visitors a year to its eclectic mix of bric-a-brac stores, arts and crafts shops and fast food vendors.
The funds raised will be used to develop an e-commerce platform, market.com, and further development of the sites. Jefferies, Berenberg and Shore Capital are joint stockbrokers to the listing.
Levels of UK initial public offerings (IPOs) have soared this year as companies seek out capital from yield-hungry investors. The amount raised is up 72 percent so far against the same period in 2013, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The AIM exchange is designed to provide a market for shares in smaller companies seeking to expand their businesses.
(Reporting By Freya Berry; editing by Keith Weir)
