Admission to trading on AIM

RNS Number : 5933W

MJ Hudson Group PLC

12 December 2019

 

12 December 2019

MJ Hudson Group plc

("MJ Hudson" or the "Company" or the "Group")

ADMISSION TO TRADING ON AIM AND FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS

MJ Hudson, the asset management consultancy, which provides expertise and infrastructure support to fund managers, investors and other specialists in the asset management industry, is pleased to announce that admission and dealings in its Ordinary Shares will commence today at 8.00 a.m. on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol MJH with ISIN JE00BJTLYP93. The Company's admission document is available to view on its Investor Relations website at www.mjhudson.com/investors.

MJ Hudson has successfully raised £31.4 million (before expenses) from institutional investors, including £29.3 million of new money for the Company, through a placing and subscription of 55,024,958 Ordinary Shares at a placing price of 57p. The Company's market capitalisation on Admission is £97.6 million. Cenkos Securities is acting as the Company's Nominated Adviser and Broker.

The Company intends to use the new funds to support its growth plans, which include developing and enhancing its Business Outsourcing, Advisory and Data & Analytics Divisions, carrying out further acquisitions and expanding within the key Alternative Investment markets, being the UK, U.S. and Europe.

Placing statistics

Placing Price (per share)	57 pence
Number of Existing Ordinary Shares	119,932,703
Number of New Ordinary Shares placed:	51,372,747
Number of Sale Shares placed	3,652,211
Enlarged Share Capital on Admission	171,305,450
Market capitalisation of the Company at the Placing Price on Admission	£97.6 million
Gross proceeds of the Placing receivable by the Company	£29.3 million

Matthew Hudson, Chief Executive Officer of MJ Hudson, commented:

"With the global Alternative Investment market forecast to exceed $20trn in the next five years, we see a significant opportunity to grow our business through a public listing. We have proven our ability to expand through both organic and acquisitive growth and we have attracted major international clients thanks to our reputation for quality service delivery, analytical tools from our large data capture, and Alternatives fund management focus. As a highly ambitious growth company, one which we started from scratch, we see the public markets as our natural source of long-term capital. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees for their amazing endeavours and welcome our new shareholders, with whom we look forward to sharing in the future success of the business."

Group Overview:

·     Operating in the global asset management market and focused on the area of Alternative Investments (private equity, venture capital, real estate funds, hedge funds, infrastructure funds and private debt), MJ Hudson provides a broad range of specialist asset management consultancy services to fund managers and investors via its three interconnected divisions: Advisory, Business Outsourcing, and Data & Analytics.

·     Across these three divisions, the Group offers legal, investment advisory, investor relations, fund and corporate administration, benchmarking, reporting, regulatory and risk services to its clients.

·     By facilitating the outsourcing of non-core services, in whole or in part, the Group enables fund managers and investors to operate more efficiently and reduce their increasing regulatory and administrative burden.

·     Since being founded by Matthew Hudson in 2010, MJ Hudson has grown into an international business with diverse revenues. The Group has grown organically and through acquisitions. The management team includes executives from SJ Berwin, Moody's, JP Morgan and KPMG.

·     The Group has over 750 clients, of which more than 500 are fund managers and over 200 are institutional investors. Assets managed and advised by MJ Hudson clients totals more than $1trn.

·     The Company has 182 staff with offices in the UK, Jersey, Guernsey, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and the USA.

·     To date, the Company has completed several acquisitions, which have supported MJ Hudson's expansion into new territories and broadened its service offering and made investment in six new businesses.

·     In the last 12 months, the Company has acquired Amaces Inc., a U.S. based asset management benchmarking analytics firm, and Spring Associates Responsible Investment Service, an environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting and consultancy business in the Netherlands.

·     In October 2019, MJ Hudson announced its intention to acquire Jersey based Anglo Saxon Trust, a provider of company and trust formation and administration services.

Growth Opportunity:

·     The Group's vision is to be the leading services and infrastructure provider for Alternatives fund managers and asset owners throughout all stages of their development. In order to achieve this, the Group will seek to acquire more and larger clients through providing more solutions and analytical tools.

The Alternative Investments sector is expected to expand materially in the foreseeable future.  According to PwC, the global Alternatives market is expected to grow to US$21.1 trillion by 2025, an increase of 109 per cent on 2016¹.

·     Demand for MJ Hudson's services is being driven by increasing levels of regulation and demands for greater transparency. This trend creates an opportunity for providers of specialist expertise across the domains of law, fund management solutions, international administration, investment advisory, ESG, reporting and benchmarking, all of which are provided by MJ Hudson.

·     Whilst MJ Hudson caters for clients across all major markets, the U.S., where 58% of the global alternatives market resides, and the UK are considered to be important markets for the Group's growth. The Company opened its New York office in September 2019, increasing its U.S. presence further, following the acquisition of Amaces in 2018.

¹ "Asset and Wealth Management Revolution: Embracing Exponential Change"

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

MJ Hudson Group plc Matthew Hudson, CEO Katherine Hazelden, IR & Marketing Solutions	[phone]
Cenkos Securities (Nomad and Broker) Stephen Keys Callum Davidson Harry Hargreaves Michael Johnson (Sales) Julian Morse (Sales)	[phone]
Yellow Jersey PR Charles Goodwin Joe Burgess Annabel Atkins	[phone] [phone]

About MJ Hudson

MJ Hudson, the asset management consultancy, provides expertise and infrastructure support to fund managers, investors and other specialists in the asset management industries. The firm's services include law, fund management solutions, international administration, investment advisory, data & analytics and IR & Marketing.

This comprehensive range of capabilities, coupled with MJ Hudson's ability to draw on many industry perspectives, allows the firm to build project teams that are extremely effective at helping clients achieve multiple goals. From its offices across the major asset management centres, MJ Hudson's team of more than 182 professionals work for clients managing and advising more than $1trn of assets. The firm has expertise in all traditional and alternative asset classes, including equities and bonds, private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, infrastructure, energy, and credit.

 

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