American Leisure Group (ALG), a property development company specialising in vacation resorts, is set to list on London's AIM market this week, having successfully raised £75 mln (EUR 111 mln) despite the market's current volatile conditions. ALG says it intends to use the funds to develop its land bank of almost 160 hectares valued at around EUR 458 mln in locations close to the Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida. It forecasts that the 7,000 resort units it is planning will sell for more than USD 300 mln (EUR 220 mln). The land owned by the group has been independently valued at $625m (£313 mln).
American Leisure Group (ALG), a property development company specialising in vacation resorts, is set to list on London's AIM market this week, having successfully raised £75 mln (EUR 111 mln) despite the market's current volatile conditions. ALG says it intends to use the funds to develop its land bank of almost 160 hectares valued at around EUR 458 mln in locations close to the Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida. It forecasts that the 7,000 resort units it is planning will sell for more than USD 300 mln (EUR 220 mln). The land owned by the group has been independently valued at $625m (£313 mln).
The global market for holiday homes and timeshare apartments is said to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the hospitality industry. ALG’s chief executive is Malcolm Wright, who helped to found and list Zurich Group on the unlisted securities market at the end of the 1980s. Sir David Garrard, retired property developer and founder of Minerva, has a 10% stake in the company. Dawnay Day Corporate Finance is the ALG's nominated adviser, and the group's house broker, Collins Stewart Europe, forecasts a pre-tax profit of $74.1 mln (EUR 54 mln) on turnover of USD 465 mln (EUR 341 mln) at the end of 2008.