LONDON, UK: REX is Peel Hunt’s retail access technology platform, which enables retail investors to participate in capital markets transactions such as IPOs and follow-on share offerings through intermediaries and investment platforms.
In our half-year trading update on 3 October 2022, we reported that we were actively engaged in establishing REX as a standalone business independent of Peel Hunt. We believe that independence is a prerequisite to REX asserting itself as the leading industry platform.
We are pleased to announce that we have established a new legal entity named RetailBook which, subject to receipt of its own regulatory permissions, will own and operate a deal platform based on REX technology.
RetailBook will on launch have its own separate headquarters and will be staffed independently of Peel Hunt.
In addition, we have entered into strategic agreements in relation to REX/RetailBook, with Hargreaves Lansdown, the largest savings and investing platform in the UK and with prominent financial institutions Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild & Co. Under the respective agreements, Hargreaves Lansdown has granted REX a period of exclusivity until 30 June 2023, whereas Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild & Co have agreed to collaborate with and promote REX and/or RetailBook.
In exchange, it is envisaged that each of Hargreaves Lansdown, Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild & Co will become shareholders in RetailBook.
REX has been gaining broader market adoption in recent months having been mandated on nine completed capital markets transactions since August 2022, and during the period has been involved in 50% of all completed UK equity capital markets transactions with a retail component. Since its establishment in 2015, REX has generated over £450m of demand from retail investors.
We are focused on supporting the growth of REX, and in due course RetailBook as an independent technology-led platform. The launch of RetailBook, which is expected to take place during the second half of 2023, comes at an opportune time to support the Government’s broader reformist agenda and drive for greater retail investor inclusion in capital markets transactions.