A company that wants to turn Second World War tunnels under London into a major tourist attraction will list in Amsterdam, in the latest blow to the City.
The London Tunnels confirmed yesterday that it has abandoned plans to float on the London stock market in favour of the Euronext exchange.
The Mail on Sunday revealed the U-turn was coming after the firm appointed Dutch investment bank ABN Amro to handle the flotation.
The snub comes as the stock market grapples with an exodus of companies and a dearth of listings.
Tunnel vision: London Tunnels wants to turn Second World War tunnels under London into a tourist attraction to rival the London Eye
London Tunnels chief executive Angus Murray said a Euronext listing is ‘in the best long-term interests of the company, its shareholders and the future ambitions for the development’.
It signalled a change of tone after Murray previously said it ‘should be listed in London’ when it announced plans to float in the City in January.
The company is planning to turn the capital’s Second World War tunnels into an attraction to rival the London Eye, saying it aims to welcome up to 3m visitors a year.
It wants to open the Kingsway Exchange Tunnels in central London to tourists in 2027.
The mile-long network of tunnels was built under Chancery Lane tube station in the early 1940s as a shelter big enough to protect 8,000 Londoners from German bombs during the Blitz.
During the war, it was used as offices for the London Civil Defence Region and Ministry of Works.
The network was later used by Winston Churchill’s Special Operations Executive, the forerunner to the MI6 intelligence service.
The tunnels are thought to have been the inspiration behind Ian Fleming’s description of ‘Q-Branch’ in his James Bond novels.
Later, after expansion, the underground site was used as a secure government communications centre.
After the war the tunnels were transferred to the General Post Office in 1949 and in 1956 became the termination point for the first transatlantic telephone cable.
Ownership of the site was transferred to BT and for many years they housed telephone switches and equipment.
The London Tunnels has received planning approval for the project from the City of London Corporation and is waiting for a decision from Camden Council, which is expected by September.
Shares will start trading on Thursday under the ticker symbol ‘TLT’, and The London Tunnels is eyeing a market capitalisation of £130million.
The company is planning to raise up to £30million through the listing, and has already received commitments from 15 investors for nearly £25million.
The firm said it will need to raise additional funding of around £120million between 2025 and 2027 to complete the project.
Murray said: ‘We believe a public listing of The London Tunnels is the logical next step, improving our ability to raise further capital over the coming years to support the company’s growth strategy and create long-term value.
He added: ‘The London Tunnels can now take advantage of the size and scale of both the equity capital markets and debt capital markets of Europe.’
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