Kitwave PLC to be valued at £105mln in AIM float

Wholesaler Kitwave PLC has confirmed plans to list on AIM following a placing and secondary sale of shares at 150p.

The group which supplies confectionery, alcohol, tobacco and groceries, will be valued at £105mln at the placing price.

Kitwave has followed a buy-and-build strategy in recent years, snapping up ten distributors since 2011 and it said it will use the AIM listing to continue with this strategy.

The group will raise £64mln in new money to reduce debt through the placing with existing shareholders banking a further £17.6mln through the secondary sale.

Kitwave, which is based in North Shields, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, said the placing had been ‘significantly over-subscribed ’with strong support from institutional investors.

Following the placing, management will own 22.3% of the shares.

Trading on AIM is scheduled to begin on 24 May 2021.

It follows a range of IPOs in the broader retail and associated sectors in recent months, including a float for electricals distributor Supreme earlier in the year and one for online specialist Moonpig, Russian discounter Fix Price’s IPO in March and in the same month for budget fashion outlet InTheStyle, and the biggest of the lot, the £3.7bn arrival of Dr. Martens.