Published on: April 21, 2017
Happy returns
A year to the day after the IPO, Forterra’s US private equity owner has placed its entire remaining c. 53% holding at 195p – a 5% discount to yesterday’s closing price. The placing was larger than initially proposed yesterday “due to strong investor demand”. We believe the market may have viewed the ‘overhang’ as a concern and this might have partly explained the stock’s discount versus larger rival Ibstock (IBST). The shares have reacted positively in early trading, rising to a new high. This comes against what we see as a positive backdrop for suppliers of bricks and other new housing products.