Yahoo Finance City Heavyweight To Lead £600m Bricks Float
A heavyweight industrialist is to spearhead a £600m flotation of one of Britain's largest brick-makers as the industry cashes in on an anticipated surge in housebuilding.
Sky News has learnt that LoneStar, the private equity firm, has lined up Paul Lester as the chairman of Forterra - previously known as Hanson Building Products.
Mr Lester, who chairs companies including Greenergy and is an adviser to the Government on major infrastructure projects, is expected to take Forterra public next year.
The initial public offering, which is likely to focus on Forterra's UK arm and take place in London, may seek to raise tens of milions of pounds, according to insiders.
It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) will come months after its larger rival Ibstock (LSE: IBST.L - news) was floated by Bain Capital, another buyout firm.
LoneStar bought Forterra in March, making the listing plan a speedy change of ownership even by the standards of the private equity industry.
It was previously owned by HeidelbergCement (Other OTC: HDELY - news) and under its former guise of Hanson bore one of the most prominent names in British industry.
Both Ibstock and Forterra envisage being able to exploit the growth in demand for building services companies' products as the Conservatives pledge to significantly increase the number of new homes built in the UK each year.
Forterra makes bricks, pipes and moulded concrete products for builders, and employs 1,600 people in the UK, according to its website.
Credit Suisse (LSE: 0QP5.L - news) and Deutsche Bank (Other OTC: DBAGF - news) were previously reported to be working on the Forterra flotation.
A spokesman declined to comment.
