Stockbrokers’ efforts to improve private investors’ access to flotations and share issues have stepped up, with Peel Hunt securing the backing of Hargreaves Lansdown for the spin-off of its Rex technology platform.

Rex, which enables investors to participate in initial public offerings and secondary fundraisings through retail brokers, is being relaunched as RetailBook, a standalone company to Peel Hunt, with its own office and staff.

Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s biggest retail stockbroker, has committed to using the service exclusively until June. It is being offered a stake in the business, as are institutional brokers Jefferies, Numis, and Rothschild, which have also agreed to work with and promote RetailBook.

Peel Hunt CEO Steven Fine said it was time for Rex ‘to spread its wings as a separate entity’.

Hargreaves Lansdown boss Chris Hill stated: ‘We are delighted to be working with Rex to help allow our clients fair access to capital markets and secondary fundraisings to avoid dilution on transactions.

‘It is hugely important that retail investors are not ignored in this growing market and that their voice is heard.’

Peel Hunt says Rex, launched in 2015, has been gaining market share and been involved in nine corporate fundraisings since August, including half of the share issues that have included retail investors. A total of £450m has been raised from individuals, it says.

The relaunch comes at a tough time for City brokers, with capital markets largely frozen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Last year, for the first time since 1978, there were no new investment companies launched on the London Stock Exchange after a busy 2021 for closed-end fund flotations.

RetailBook faces competition from the PrimaryBid app, which since 2016 has sought to connect listed companies and private investors. Last week it teamed up with Peel Hunt rival Winterflood to offer its interface to retail brokers wanting to enhance their offering.

The regulatory obstacles discouraging listed companies from raising money through private investors – who hold an estimated £300bn in ISAs – have become a target for the government. It wants to broaden private sector and pension fund investment in infrastructure and startups and has commissioned two Treasury reviews on the subject. They have both proposed cutting red tape to ensure there is a level playing field between retail and institutional investors.