CMS advises Superyacht firm on AIM listing

A team headed by CMS’ Scottish-based corporate team has helped a world-leading yacht services company complete its successful listing on London’s AIM exchange. 

Headquartered in Palma, Spain, GYG plc is a market-leading superyacht painting, supply and maintenance company, which services global clients through its operations in the Mediterranean, Northern Europe and the United States. The company, whose clients include 25 of the world’s 50 largest superyachts, generated revenues of over $60m (£46.5m) last year. The company’s flotation on the AIM exchange, where it raised an additional $9m investment and there was a significant partial exit for its existing investors, was concluded last week. With the superyacht refit and servicing market forecast to increase by six per cent per annum, on average, over the next three years the move is a critical aspect of GYG’s growth strategy. 

The legal team advising on the listing was led by Edinburgh-based CMS partner Kenny Rose. His team included Scottish corporate colleagues Caroline Ironside, Katie Hume and David Davidson, as well as banking specialist Dawn Reoch with additional CMS support from advisers in CMS’s offices in Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. 

Following initial discussions with its client, CMS began its work on the AIM flotation in February. The firm’s extensive remit included negotiating all relevant agreements, conducting international due diligence, preparing and verifying the AIM admission document and advising their client’s board on their responsibilities in the process. 

Working to a tight time scale, the legal team overcame the challenge of having to put in place a share re-organisation for GYG’s geographically spread business which operates across numerous international legal jurisdictions. 

Commenting on the successful floatation, CMS partner Kenny Rose said: “The work involved in delivering GYG’s listing on the AIM exchange really highlighted CMS’s international pedigree. Led by a Scottish-based corporate team with additional support from specialist colleagues, we also harnessed expertise from across our network of European offices, to support us across the multi-jurisdictional elements of this assignment. 

“With its listing on the AIM exchange now successfully completed, GYG is now ideally placed to raise additional required investment to capitalise on the opportunities within its growing marketplace and further develop its business across the globe.”