Electra Private Equity said on Friday that it plans to float US-themed restaurant chain TGI Fridays on the London Stock Exchange as it enters the final stages of its wind down.
The private equity group’s other last remaining asset, shoe retailer Hotter Shoes, will be floated on the junior AIM stock market.
Chairman Neil Johnson said: “With the recent sale of Sentinel, we enter the final stage of our strategy with confidence, having returned over 2 billion to shareholders since October 2016. The new management teams at our two remaining larger portfolio assets, Fridays and Hotter, have performed admirably through the pandemic, not just sustaining their businesses in the most difficult circumstances, but also transforming them.
“In light of this, and their potential for further significant longer term value creation, the board has decided that the optimal outcome for shareholders is likely to lie in a capital market solution for both businesses. It is our intention to demerge Fridays onto the FTSE Main Market late in the third quarter of this year and, subsequently, in the fourth quarter, to bring Hotter on to AIM through reclassification of the Electra entity.”
Johnson said plans are “well advanced” for both listings.
