Alpha Prospects, a company formed to back quoted or unquoted companies in the independent travel sector, has raised £732,000 through a flotation on PLUS.

Alpha Prospects, a company formed to back quoted or unquoted companies in the independent travel sector, has raised £732,000 through a flotation on PLUS. It plans to acquire or invest in niche businesses that it considers to have potential for expansion.

The company’s market capitalisation at the placing price of 3p per share is £2.5 million. CEO Christopher Foster, who is also a director of mining companies Syndicated Minerals & Resources and Manzanillo, holds 21.86 per cent of the company’s shares, while non-executive chairman Steven Freudmann, a director of the Association of British Travel Agents, has 18.22 per cent.

Other investors include Birmingham-based Early Equity, which itself recently listed on PLUS, with 15.18 per cent, and pre-IPO investment firm Plus Investors, with 12.14 per cent. Early Equity’s chief executive Robert Painting, who has become Alpha’s finance director, has a shareholding of 1.76 per cent in the new company.

The management of Alpha, which has already identified a number of investment prospects, will consider backing both profitable and loss-making ventures, provided there is potential for profitability.

Should they acquire a business, shares in Alpha would make up a substantial part of the consideration.