A bipartisan US government lobbying group has picked London’s junior stock market for a listing given the advantages in raising smaller amounts on Aim compared with the much larger US public markets.
Public Policy Holding Company, a public affairs group that has appointed prominent Republican lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg to its board, raised more than £30m from a flotation on Aim on Monday.
Ginsberg served as national counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004, as well as the Romney for President campaigns of 2008 and 2012.
The group has brought in new investors including Bill Miller, former chair and chief investment officer of Legg Mason, through his fund manager Miller Value Partners. The company’s market capitalisation based on the placing price is £146m.
PPHC has been created from merging a number of companies in the public and government affairs industry in the US. About two-thirds of proceeds will be given to existing shareholders who are selling stakes while the remainder will be used in part as a war chest to fund acquisitions to help expand the business. The group’s free float of shares will be about 26 per cent.
Stewart Hall, chief executive of PPHC, said that the group had no connection at present with the UK, but added that “in the US, we do not have a market like Aim” that caters to such smaller businesses.
The “size and liquidity” of Nasdaq would have made it more difficult to float on the market, he added, while the UK-listed shares would serve as a currency to fund the company’s future acquisition plans.
Hall said the US strategic communications industry was worth $17.6bn in 2020, “yet the marketplace for lobbying and public affairs is dominated by small and midsized firms”.
He added: “We believe this market is ripe for consolidation.”
At the year end December 31 2020, the group had more than 700 “active client relationships” including trade associations and non-government organisations across the US economy in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, financial services, energy, technology and telecoms.
Hall said that the business would focus on the US for acquisitions, pointing to the demand for services not just in Washington but across the major state capitals. But he said that the group would consider “key western capitals” as potential markets in which to expand.
Hall said that the company would use Aim to raise further capital as potential acquisitions emerged, adding that the market provided good “access to growth capital” and a “tradable security” to offer to potential targets.
US lobby group picks London’s Aim for IPO
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