Lavendon founder could scoop pounds 6m

The flotation of Lavendon, which provides powered access equipment for important sporting events such as Wimbledon, is set to bring a windfall of up to pounds 6m for its founder, David Price, who invested pounds 300,000 in buying the business in 1992, writes Magnus Grimond.

Now the UK's biggest powered access group, Lavendon announced yesterday its intention to come to the stock market in an autumn placing which values the group at up to pounds 30m. The company's self-propelled scissor and boom lifts and vehicle-mounted hoists, which rise as high as 72 metres, have become familiar sights as television camera platforms at sporting occasions such as the Grand National and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Yesterday, the trucks were rolling out from some of Lavendon's 1,400 depots to cover the British Masters golf championship at Collingtree, near Northampton. The placing will raise between pounds 8m and pounds 12m for the company to finance expansion and realise the holding of CINVen, the venture capital group that backed the original acquisition of the business.

It will also net a potential profit of more than pounds 5.5m for Mr Price, a former systems analyst with IBM and divisional director with GKN, the engineering group.