A business services provider whose clients include LinkedIn and Netflix will unveil plans for a £1bn London listing this week that will provide a boost to the City’s lukewarm market for company flotations.
Sky News has learnt that TMF Group, which offers a range of tax, administration and legal services, will announce as early as Thursday that it intends to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) that will raise more than £200m from institutional investors.
The listing will follow talks between TMF’s owner DH Private Equity and a number of other private equity groups about a sale which have taken place in recent weeks, according to insiders.
TMF employs more than 7,000 people, and has in excess of 50,000 clients, including more than half of the companies in the FTSE-100 and nearly half of those in the Fortune 500.
It helps companies to globalise more seamlessly by providing human resources, payroll, tax compliance, legal administration and corporate governance assistance to companies of all sizes looking to do business across borders.
The company’s decision to choose London as its listing venue will be seen as a boost for the City because the company is headquartered in Amsterdam, where it also considered floating.
TMF’s will be one of the biggest London IPOs this year, following in the wake of Allied Irish Banks and Charter Court Financial Services.
Bankers say the pipeline for sizeable new listings has begun to dry up amid concerns that equity markets have started to approach their peak.
A person close to TMF said that Brexit could present an opportunity as increased business complexity drives growing demand from multinationals.
They added that the provision of trust services, which has been a source of controversy for rivals caught up in the Panama Papers tax scandal, accounts for only a minority of TMF’s revenues.
TMF’s float will come at a time when other big outsourcers, such as Capita and Mitie, are struggling to shake off concerns about their accounting and amid profound business challenges.
Insiders point to TMF’s diverse client base, with its biggest customer worth less than 1% of the company’s annual revenue – as a differentiator to listed peers.
Last year, TMF announced profits of €138m (£122m) on revenue of €529m (£469).
Goldman Sachs and HSBC are handling the flotation.
A TMF spokesman declined to comment.
Source: Sky