Spanish mining firm set to list in London as pressure mounts on self-storage group Big Yellow to put itself up for sale and quit capital's stock exchange
By PATRICK TOOHER, CONSULTANT CITY EDITOR and ANNE ASHWORTH, BUSINESS WRITER AND COLUMNIST
Updated:
A Spanish mining company is set to be the latest foreign firm to list its shares in London.
In a boost for the City, Abenojar Tungsten is set to join the FTSE 250 index of leading companies in an initial public offering that values the company at over £500million.
Confirmation it has raised £150million to help develop the El Moto tungsten mine in central Spain is expected as early as tomorrow.
The news follows the recent £5.3billion flotation of African mobile payments firm Airtel Money – the largest listing in London in five years.
Abenojar Tungsten was set up three years ago by the Garcia San Miguel mining family to develop the site.
It has been designated an EU strategic project under the Critical Raw Materials Act.
Construction began this year and, once up and running, it will produce a fifth of Europe’s tungsten, which is used in aerospace and defence.
In a boost for the City, Abenojar Tungsten is set to join the FTSE 250 index
Its price has soared since China, which controls 80 per cent of supply, imposed export controls last year.
About 10 per cent of the shares will be traded in London. Dealings are expected to start the week after next.
The City has suffered a dearth of listings in recent years, raising questions about its role as a global centre for firms looking to raise money.
Could Big Yellow's London listing end?
Self-storage group Big Yellow is under mounting pressure to put itself up for sale. In the course of just 24 hours, two US activist funds have urged the FTSE 250-listed firm to look for a buyer.
And, in a novel move, a website called unlockbigyellow.com has appeared noting that Big Yellow’s shares are at a 40 per cent discount to its net asset value.
The website is set up by advisers to Ancora, the first activist to break cover. The Ohio-based fund held meetings with Big Yellow before going public with its campaign.
Ancora holds 4 per cent of Big Yellow, the brand leader in the UK warehouse sector, as does the other activist, New York’s Irenic.
Big Yellow’s 115 London-based warehouses offer 6.9million sq ft of storage space, with plans to increase this to 7.7million sq ft.
But its shares have fallen 11 per cent this year, as a result of the housing market slowdown.
With the disruptors’ arrival and the suggestion of a sale, they piled on double-digit gains.
Big Yellow, which is structured as a real estate investment trust (Reit) valued at £1.7billion, has been here before. A year ago, US property titan Blackstone seemed poised to swoop, but talks broke down over the price tag.
Ancora says Blackstone’s offer was 50 per cent above Big Yellow’s current share price, but the offer was never made public.
Ancora cites Blackstone and private equity giant KKR, which last year tried to snap up the Assura healthcare Reit, as potential ‘sponsors’ to a new bid for Big Yellow. So the warehouse bid party may be getting started.
Big Yellow said it would ‘continually evaluate all options to maximise shareholder value’.
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