Melrose founders plot rare London fund listing

The founders of the investment group Melrose Industries are plotting to list a new investment vehicle on London’s AIM market.

Veteran dealmaker Simon Peckham is reportedly leading the launch of Rosebank Industries. It has plans to raise over £40m from investors through an initial public offering on the capital’s junior market, according to Sky News’ Mark Kleinman.

The 61-year-old helped found Melrose, which has built an excellent track record of buying, improving and selling manufacturing businesses.

He stepped down as chief executive of the FTSE 100 firm earlier this year, alongside co-founder Christopher Miller and the group’s finance director Geoffrey Martin.

Rosebank has been formed by six former Melrose executives who spent a combined 108 years at their former company. Citi and Investec have been appointed to work on the AIM market listing and fundraising.

According to an investor presentation seen by Sky News, the new fund is aiming to recreate the same “buy, improve, sell” approach adopted by Melrose, which saw the firm complete takeover deals for companies such as GKN Aerospace.

An IPO would make Rosebank one of the few companies to list on London markets this year and comes despite warnings from Peckham in April that the UK stock market was “in danger of being ordinary.”

Last year alone, London’s AIM suffered 78 cancellations and a further 15 in the opening two months of 2023. The number of firms listed on London’s junior index has cratered 30 per cent to just 742 since 2015.

Rosebank will reportedly look to buy out industrial and manufacturing firms across Europe and North America.

Its executive remuneration ethos will remain similar to that of Melrose, which led to three executives, including Peckham, raking in a chunk of a £180m bonus pot in June, shortly after leaving the group.