Shares in Dublin-based American Leisure Group (ALG) will begin trading on the Alternative Investment Market in London today in what is expected to be one of the biggest flotations on that market this year.
ALG is currently developing 121 acres of land into "vacation resorts" close to the Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida.
It has raised £75 million (€111 million), before expenses, at a placing price of 120 pence a share. This gives it a market capitalisation of £204 million.
Little known in Ireland to date, ALG established a base in Dublin in mid June. It has based itself here to avail of our 12.5 per cent rate of corporate taxation.
Three businesses using the American Leisure name have been registered with the Companies Office here.
Its address is listed as 70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay, on the south bank of the Liffey near Ringsend. According to Companies Office records, 458 companies are also listed with the same address.
Its directors are listed as Edward Millar and George Brady, both with addresses in Dublin.
The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands and is headed by chief executive Malcolm Wright.
He developed and constructed more than 1,000 homes in the UK in the 1980s with a number of property companies there.
Mr Wright founded American Leisure Holdings, an ALG subsidiary, in 1998 and devised the group's strategy. He will manage the business from Dublin.
The only director with an obvious connection to Ireland is Roger Maddock. He was chairman and a large shareholder of Worthy Trust in Jersey from 1984 until it was sold to AIB in 1999.
Mr Maddock, who is 56, remained as a non-executive director of that business until 2005. That year he became chairman of Development Capital Management Jersey Ltd, a fund manager specialising in property finance.
A spokesman for ALG said the majority of the new funds raised came from investors in the US. Some money, however, was raised from UK and Irish backers, he added.
About 20 per cent of the pre-sales of homes in Orlando have been sold to Irish people, constituting $60 million (€43.8 million) out of the $300 million sold.
ALG says it has already pre-sold 700 units in Orlando. Its landbank includes 395 acres in three other locations in Florida. About 7,000 units are planned for these sites by 2015. Documents for ALG's flotation state that its land has been independently valued at $625 million (€456 million).
Dawnay Day Corporate Finance is acting as nominated adviser and Collins Stewart Europe is the company's broker.
