Hawthorn to list as a standalone business
NewRiver’s Hawthorn has unveiled plans to list on the stock market as a standalone quoted business.
Hawthorn has unveiled plans to list on the stock market as a standalone quoted business, which would see the return of a tenanted and leased pub group to the London stock market.
Parent group NewRiver REIT has announced that it will explore the potential for an IPO of Hawthorn following a strategic review, a process that would see the pub group launched out as a separately-listed company.
Mark Davies, who has been chief executive officer of Hawthorn since 2019, will lead the IPO opportunity. Davies also sits on the board of the BBPA, and has been chief financial officer at NewRiver for 12 years. In leading this new chapter for Hawthorn, will step down from the NewRiver board in due course.
Hawthorn says that the move would enable it to continue to build on its mission of becoming the number one community pub company in the UK. It would also pave the way for investors to be able to buy and trade shares in the 700-strong pub group in the coming months.
"This is a tremendously exciting and important moment for Hawthorn and represents the next phase in the development of the company," says Davies. "NewRiver is, and has been, a strong custodian of this business, helping to build one of the UK’s leading community pub companies, and enabling us in the past 12 months to provide industry-leading support to our pub partners and operators.
“This is the right time to be exploring the IPO opportunity. After building this business over the course of eight years, the NewRiver board has concluded that Hawthorn can grow faster as an independent company and continue to drive towards our shared ambition of making Hawthorn the number-one community pub company in the UK.”
The group, which also has a managed division, estimates that around 60% of its pubs have reopened this week after the easing of restrictions on outside trading.
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