Pinewood Shepperton share offer promises £46m

The share launch by UK film studio complex Pinewood Shepperton on the London Stock Exchange today was expected to net £46.2 million, but the oversubscribed share offer promises to net the company much more.

The studios, home to Harry Potter and James Bond film productions, announced today that the shares had been launched at 180 pence each.

Chairman of Pinewood Shepperton, Michael Grade, said: “We are delighted with the response from investors. Pinewood Shepperton is a household name in the film and television industry and we look forward to developing our reputation as a public company.”

Based on the offer price and the number of issued shares (45,813,118) the market value of the company is approximately £82.5 million.

Commenting on the announcement Ivan Dunleavy, Chief Executive of Pinewood Shepperton said: “This is great news for the future of our business. This offering has given us the appropriate capital structure to grow our business and we look forward to the future with confidence.”

Pinewood Shepperton is the leading European provider of studio and film-related services to the worldwide film industry and based on the number of stages is one of the largest studio complexes in the world.

Pinewood Studios was the subject of a management buy-out from Rank Group in 2000, and the company later added Shepperton Studios to its portfolio the following year.

Many major national and international film and television production companies making films and commercials use the extensive production and post-production facilities at the studio stages and other facilities.

Pinewood Shepperton provides facilities to over 200 media-related businesses based at the associated media villages.

(SP)