Centaur To Float On Junior Share Market Next Week

Centaur Communications is expected to be floated on AIM next week following its sale to Numis Securities. A holding company, Centaur Holdings, set up by Numis, has entered into a sale and purchase agreement to buy the B2B publisher, which includes The Lawyer and Marketing Week in its portfolio, for £145m.

It plans to float the company on AIM, London’s junior share market, on 10 March, following an “accelerated IPO.”

Graham Sherren, chairman and chief executive officer at Centaur, will take on the role of chairman and chief executive, but the company plans to split the two roles and will begin searching for a suitable chief executive this year, to be appointed by 2006.

Sherren said: “I am delighted to be able to announce this latest stage in Centaur’s evolution as a major business publisher. This is the beginning of a new age for me and all of the staff at Centaur. I am excited by the possibilities that being a public company will bring for staff and shareholders alike.”

Patrick Taylor, former chief executive of GWR Group, and Colin Morrison, former chief operating officer at Future Publishing, have been appointed non-executive directors.

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