Shoosmiths advises Cenkos Securities and Dowgate Capital on IPO of Onward Opportunities Limited
May, 2023 - Milton Keynes, England
Law firm Shoosmiths has advised Cenkos Securities (Cenkos) and Dowgate Capital on the IPO of Onward Opportunities Limited (OOL), a Guernsey collective investment scheme.
OOL is a newly incorporated Guernsey company registered with the Guernsey Financial Services Commission as a closed-ended registered collective investment scheme and has been successfully admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market (AIM). It is thought to be the first new LSE-listed fund to IPO since 2021 and is the largest AIM IPO of 2023 so far.
OOL’s investment objective is to seek to generate risk-adjusted absolute returns to shareholders through investments in UK smaller companies. Returns are expected to be principally derived from capital growth over a target three to five-year holding period with an appropriate diversification of investment risk.
Cenkos acted as Nominated Adviser, joint broker and joint bookrunner to the Company. Dowgate Capital acted as joint broker and joint bookrunner to the Company.
Shoosmiths’ corporate partner, Oliver Pilkington, led the deal, with support from Mandeep Vryaparj and Jasmine Chana and with Barry Stimpson advising on funds aspects.
Oliver Pilkington, corporate partner in Shoosmiths’ Equity Capital Markets team, said: “At Shoosmiths we pride ourselves on providing effective advice that contributes to transforming the shape of businesses for the better and it was a pleasure for us to work on this deal as we expand our Equity Capital Markets offering. We wish our clients and Onward Opportunities Limited the very best in this new and exciting phase.”
Andrew Henton, chairman of the board at Onward Opportunities Limited, said: "We believe that a structural market gap in the market exists within UK smaller companies which can be exploited through the deep industry experience of the investment team. We recognise that implementing an active approach to identifying these companies, and engaging with them, can support the SMEs that are the driving wheels of enterprise in the UK and lead to increased returns by targeting these inefficiencies."
Shoosmiths’ equity capital markets team has broad and deep experience in ECM transactions, advising public companies and other market participants on a variety of matters including IPOs, secondary fundraisings and public takeovers.
