Grant Thornton Leading Way On Indian Floats On The LSE

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

20 May 2008

Grant Thornton, one of the UK's leading business and financial advisors, has announced this week that it continues to lead the market in floating Indian companies on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with the admission of Mortice Limited on AIM Monday - the first Indian facilities management company to list in the UK.

Mortice has already successfully raised GBP5mn of new funds via a placing on AIM of 7.7mn new ordinary shares.

Mortice is the ultimate parent company of Peregrine Guarding Private Limited, which provides security services to a client base of over 450 corporate customers in 51 locations, through 19 of the 28 Indian states.

The company is being advised by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance as Nominated Advisor.

Fiona Owen, Partner with Grant Thornton's South Asia Group, suggested that the initial success of Mortice was an excellent example of the positive sentiment that the market was currently showing towards Indian companies, and therefore of the opportunities still on offer for Indian companies considering a float in the UK.

Owen added that at least another six Indian firms were planning to raise funds in the UK for the first time in the next six months, largely on AIM, offering a welcome boost to the London financial services sector in what has so far been a challenging year:

"India's rapid economic growth is creating a new wave of fast-growing businesses now looking to fund expansion, something the UK financial services industry should be actively pursuing as the UK works through a difficult economic period," she stated, concluding:

"India is now challenging for its place as the nation with the greatest number of businesses listed on the LSE outside of the UK. Grant Thornton has made a strategic decision to be at the forefront of this trend, with the work we are doing with KSK Emerging India Energy Fund another key example of our strong link with Indian business."

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