Engine | MHP has advised leading UK restructuring advisory specialist FRP Advisory on its £190m IPO following a competitive pitch process. The firm has also been retained as FRP’s retained financial communications adviser as a listed company.

The listing is the largest on London’s junior Alternative Investment Market (Aim) so far this year. FRP’s shares began trading on 6 March. FRP recently worked on the administration of clothing firm and retailer Bonmarché and bakery chain Patisserie Valerie.

The FRP team at MHP is led by Oliver Hughes and Charlie Barker with support from Pete Lambie and Amy O’Sullivan.

The appointment further cements MHP’s position as a leading adviser for UK IPOs, having ranked number one by number of transactions in 2018 including the floatation of UK law firm Knights. MHP has also entered the top five UK PR agencies by number of M&A deals, recently advising Cobham on their £4bn takeover by Advent.

The win is the latest coup for MHP’s capital markets division, which last month announced it was expanding the team with two senior hires. James Midmer, joined as a director from Flutter plc, the FTSE 100 international sports betting company, and James Bavister as an associate director, from leading City broker Peel Hunt.

In the last two years the team has won new clients including the FTSE 100 energy group SSE, the Restaurant Group, Speedy Hire and Costain and advised on high profile financial restructurings including Arcadia and Four Seasons Health Care.

Oliver Hughes, Head of Capital Markets at MHP, says, “We are delighted to be working with the team at FRP Advisory on their landmark IPO and look forward to continuing to support them as a listed company. Since the turn of the year we have seen a revival in the UK IPO market, and we look forward to advising both newly listed companies and private firms looking to access the capital markets.”