Cornerstone raises £2.7 million in public listing on LSE alternatives market

By Sunniva Kolostyak

Cloud-based FX provider, Cornerstone FS, has announced that its shares capital is now trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker CSFS.

Cornerstone, which specialises in providing international payment, currency risk management and electronic account services to SMEs, admitted its entire ‘issued’ and ‘to be issued’ share capital on the exchange today. The placing involved 3,664,648 new ordinary shares priced at 61 pence per share.

Via the placing, worth £2.24 million, and a further £450,000 raised via Convertible Loan Note Facilities, the company has reached £2.69 million in gross proceeds.

The shares sold represent approximately 18 per cent of the issued share capital and on admission, the market capitalisation of Cornerstone will be approximately £12.4 million.

Commenting on the IPO, Julian Wheatland, Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone, said: “We are pleased to announce our successful placing and admission to AIM. It is an important milestone and a key element of our strategy. We already have more than 700 customers who give us a strong financial foundation and we plan to build on that to fuel value creation.

“The ‘non-financial institutions’ segment of the market is highly fragmented with many smaller players struggling to cope with the ever-increasing regulatory demands and the costs of acquiring up-to-date technology. At the same time, SME customers are seeking better quality and more bespoke services than are provided by the major financial institutions that dominate the FX market. This provides us with a clear opportunity for our offering, which, with our strong board, excellent management team and highly scalable platform, we are well-placed to deliver.

“We’d really like to thank our current investors and welcome new ones as we embark on the next phase of our development,” Wheatland added.

Cornerstone’s strategy is to build a significant business in the provision of payment services, foreign exchange and currency risk management for its SME customer base – usually businesses with fewer than 250 employees. It also provides services for some high-net-worth individuals, some of whom are owners or directors of SME customers.

The FinTech has developed and built its own proprietary cloud-based and white-labelled software platform which allows third parties and marketing partners to integrate it into their own businesses.

Moreover, the funds raised from the public listing will enable Cornerstone to pursue a combination of acquisitive and organic growth, particularly looking to use the shares as acquisition currency. Additionally, funds will be used to pay the costs of the IPO and develop a broader range of products and services.

SPARK Advisory Partners Limited is acting as Nominated Adviser and Peterhouse Capital Limited and Pello Capital Limited are acting as Joint Brokers in relation to the Admission.