Discounted fundraising eases DIC’s IPO
Article Date: Oct 11 2005
DIC Entertainment, the company behind such televisual treats as Inspector Gadget and The A-Team, completed two rounds of fundraising ahead of its AIM flotation late last week.
In late August, the group raised $13 million (£7.4 million) via the issue of loan notes to various funds managed by growth company backer Artemis (it snapped up $3 million’s worth) and British Virgin Island-domiciled Perry Partners ($10 million).
Artemis and Perry will be able to convert their loan notes into shares at the equivalent of 198p. Interestingly, this is a 20 per cent discount to the most recent fundraising – at 248p per share – which saw DIC reel in another £19.3 million from a range of investors with the help of Bridgewell Securities.
When the shares began trading, DIC claimed a market value of £33 million. With its new cash pile, the group says it will ‘maintain its focus on identifying, acquiring and developing children's brands’ that can be exploited across many mediums and markets’. In addition to those mentioned above, another key shareholder is John De Mol, whose other interests include the production company behind Big Brother and the plastic surgery ‘entertainment’ series Extreme Makeover.
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