London Tunnels plans £123m float
The company behind plans to reopen a series of tunnels beneath London as a tourist attraction aims to float later this month.
The London Tunnels has already raised more than £10m from investors and wants to admit shares at £2 on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It expects a market capitalisation of around £123m on the placing and intends to raise a further £30m immediately afterwards.
The funds will support its plans to open up the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels, which lie 30m beneath Holborn.
The company behind plans to reopen a series of tunnels beneath London as a tourist attraction aims to float later this month.
The London Tunnels has already raised more than £10m from investors and wants to admit shares at £2 on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It expects a market capitalisation of around £123m on the placing and intends to raise a further £30m immediately afterwards.
The funds will support its plans to open up the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels, which lie 30m beneath Holborn.
Chief executive Angus Murray said: “This unique set of tunnels, owned by a British company, built by the British government, for the defence of Britain, that can further enhance London’s reputation as a leading tourist destination, should be listed in London. As a result, we are pleased to announce our intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.”
The tunnels, built in the 1940s to shelter 8,000 people from German bombing raids, have had a curious history. From 1944 to the end of the Second World War they housed the Special Operations Executive, the inspiration for Q Branch in the James Bond novels and films.
During the Cold War they housed the telephone exchange that connected the “hotline” between the White House and the Kremlin during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Later it was a back-up site for the War Control Bunker known as Pindar.
The company wants to embrace all of this history and more, including the UK’s deepest bar, set in a “digitally curated realm”.
As well as tying in with the espionage theme, the London Tunnels said that in the future “visitors can embark on captivating journeys, virtually transporting them to iconic global landmarks such as to the pyramids, the Sistine Chapel, the Amazon rain forest or the Great Wall of China”.
It expects to welcome as many as two million visitors a year.
WilkinsonEyre, WSP, Montagu Evans and Gardener and Theobold are all working on the scheme.
Murray added: “We envisage the London Tunnels achieving the same iconic status in London as the London Eye.”
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
Image from WilkinsonEyre
