ii TIP Europe placed 12 million shares on the London
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Stock Exchange last Wednesday (17 February) in the first stage of an unusual joint listing in Britain and Holland which is designed to raise about 215.3 million for the trailer rental company.
There was a sense of déjà vu for chairman Jim Cleary: he brought TIP Europe to the Stock Exchange last October with plans for a full flotation — but the market's huge "Black Monday" share crash postponed everything. This week's listing is a more cautious avenue to take, but Cleary's adviser Kleinwort Benson said it was the only "fire-proof' option to take in current market conditions.
TIP is now an extremely strong market leader in Europes's trailer rental industry with a 25% share of the cake, well ahead of rivals like Rentco and CTR. It has 42 branches in nine European countries ranging from depots in Helsinki, Oslo and Gothenburg in the North, to Le Havre, Stuttgart and Le Bourget in the south; and from Edinburgh to Southampton in the UK.
It runs 10,000 trailers and has been deliberately buying high quality, "premium" units in recent years. In all 14 million extra shares have been issued, representing 21.1% Of the enlarged issued share capital at 125p per share: market capitalisation now stands at 283.1 million.