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EasyProperty plans IPO this year to fund Europe expansion Sorry - this page has been removed.
(5 days later)
EasyProperty, the online estate agent co-founded by budget airline pioneer Stelios Haji-Ioannou, is planning a share placement or initial public offering in the second half of the year to raise funds to expand in Europe, its chief executive has said. This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason.
The company, which helps customers let out their houses in England and Wales, intends to raise a “significantly larger” amount than the £9.75m ($14.51m) it raised through a share placement in September, Rob Ellice told Reuters.
The last fundraising round, the company’s second, valued easyProperty at £66m. For further information, please contact:
“At the next round, we’d be seeing someone of a larger scale put a bigger chunk of money into the business,” said Ellice, who co-founded the company and is its largest shareholder. He said he had been contacted by funds from the United States, France and Germany.
Asked how the company planned to raise funds, he said: “I think we’re looking at both an IPO and a pre-IPO round at the moment.”
A number of real estate agents, including Purplebricks and Hunters UK, are building towards a listing this year to raise funds and benefit from the strong equity market, healthy letting demand and a sharp rise in housing prices in the past two years.
Although housing transactions have cooled before next month’s UK general election, investors and industry experts are expecting demand to shoot up in the second half of the year.
The easyProperty brand is on lease for 20 years from Haji-Ioannou, better known as Stelios, founder of budget airline easyJet. The company counts family offices and high net worth individuals among its investors. It has also attracted investors via a crowdfunding platform.
EasyProperty, which plans to launch its services in Scotland soon, said it would hire another financial adviser along with Chrystal Capital Partners, the financial boutique that managed its first two fundraising rounds.
It has licences to enter France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Greece. Ellice said the company was in preliminary deal talks with local partners in two countries.