[1]Stock Exchange: Quindell eyes main market listing in March
Alternative business structure (ABS) Quindell Portfolio Plc has raised £200m through a share placement to fund “significant growth opportunities”.
The placing was oversubscribed and priced at 16p per share, which is just below the current share price, but marks a major recovery since hitting a low of 6p in May.
In recent months Quindell has announced a series of major contract wins for its motor claims service, with Direct Line, RAC, Honda and Renault.
In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Quindell said: “The company intends to use the proceeds of the placing to fund the working capital requirements of new contracts, which are expected to be entered into in the coming months and to enable the group to capitalise on additional new business opportunities, further build its market share and support its goal of becoming the leading supplier of technology based insurance and telematics solutions globally…
“The directors are encouraged by the number of insurers moving to the group’s collaboration model, intended to drive down cost of claims for the industry and the group’s debtor days by accelerating its operating cash flows.”
The AIM-listed company is planning to seek a listing on the main market in March, and also wants to change its name to Quindell plc.
Meanwhile, the first ABS to fail – online conveyancing company In-Deed – has now been formally consigned to the history books after shareholders approved a reverse takeover by an e-learning company [2], leading to the company being renamed Learning Technologies Group plc.
In-Deed executive chairman Harry Hill, the founder of Rightmove and Countrywide Property Lawyers, is staying on as a non-executive director.
In other ABS news, Leeds-based Brilliant Law – the pioneering start-up backed by BetFair founder Bert Black – is continuing its growth by taking on its first trainee solicitor. Tamanna Keir started her training in September on a part-time basis while studying the legal practice course, with her studies sponsored by the firm.
Brilliant Law has received accreditation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to take up to four trainees.
Finally, ABS Fisher Jones Greenwood, one of the higher profile law firms to join QualitySolicitors when it signed up in March 2012, is to leave the network and return to operating under its own brand.
Managing partner Paula Fowler said: “We have learnt a great deal from our membership of QS during a period of rapid growth for the firm; we hope that we have been able to contribute significantly as well as taking lessons from the network. We now want to focus on developing our own regional brand in Essex and London rather than remain as part of a national brand…
“Feedback from our clients and professional connections in this, our 30th year, has given us confidence that the Fisher Jones Greenwood brand is sufficiently strong in our target markets to go it alone.”