London's Appeal To Green Companies

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European Green Transition, a company building a portfolio of green economy assets in Europe, became one of just eight initial public offerings on Aim, the London Stock Exchange's junior market, in April.

Delistings and the lack of flotations had led to the number of small companies quoted on Aim falling to 722 at the end of June, the low­est since 2002, accord­ing to UK account­ancy group UHY Hacker Young.

Cathal Friel, co-founder, largest shareholder and non-executive director of EGT, says: "Never waste a good crisis, and there is a crisis in London. I've never been more excited about London because fixing the problem is so simple and can be done with the stroke of a pen."

On admission to Aim, EGT had a market capitalisation of £14.45mn. The firm raised £6.46mn from institutional and family offices, with Panmure Gordon as nominated adviser, sole bookrunner and broker. Friel is an ex-broker and says EGT likes to stay loyal to a small group of brokers.

"We used Panmure Gordon for the first time as they have been brilliant in showing us ideas in the past two to three years," he says, adding that the company has "huge loyalty⁘ to Cavendish too.

The initial focus is to increase EGT's market cap to £50mn, which the management team and board have done in IPOs they worked on in the past.

"Once you hit £50mn, you can reach £100mn to £200mn and you have a real company," says Friel. "But I think that Aim is a five-year journey."

The funds raised will be used to finance existing projects and for acquiring distressed green economy assets in Europe. EGT's management team has used the same strategy to scale and exit three previous M⁘A-focused companies on Aim. For example the team listed Amryt Pharma on Aim in 2016, acquired undervalued assets and then sold the company for $1.48bn in 2023.