Zeus Capital acted as joint broker to Vertu Motors on its placing to raise £35m at 62.5p to fund the acquisition pipeline

Zeus Capital has acted as joint broker to Vertu Motors on its placing to raise £35m gross. The placing was conducted by way of an accelerated bookbuild.

Vertu Motors, the UK automotive retailer with a proven growth strategy, is the fifth largest automotive retailer in the UK with a network of 126 sales outlets across the UK.  Its dealerships operate predominantly under the Bristol Street Motors, Vertu, Farnell, Macklin Motors and South Hereford Garages brand names. Vertu Motors was established in November 2006 with the strategy to consolidate the UK motor retail sector.  It is intended that the Group will continue to acquire motor retail operations to grow a scaled dealership group.  The Group’s acquisition strategy is supplemented by a focused organic growth strategy to drive operational efficiencies through its national dealership network. The Group currently operates 123 franchised sales outlets and 3 non-franchised sales operations from 106 locations across the UK.

Robert Forrester, Vertu Motor’s CEO commented :

We were delighted with the success of our Placing which was important strategically for the future growth of the Group. Our advisors delivered on their promises and I would highly  recommend the team.

Adam Pollock, Co-Head of Corporate Broking commented :

We are delighted to have been involved as joint broker on Vertu’s recent highly successful placing, the proceeds of which will be used to fund acquisition opportunities going forward. This is an important transaction for Zeus and we are pleased to have attracted a number of new high quality institutional investors to the Company’s share register. We look forward to supporting Vertu as it continues its impressive drive for growth.”