Sports investment firm joins PLUS

PLUS new issue China Sports Development has become the third admission to the junior market during 2012 as part of its plans to tap into the lucrative sports market in China.

The first quarter of the year saw Colombian Mineral Resources and HubCo Investments also join the exchange.

Adviser Beaumont Cornish helped the business raise £395,900 at 10p a share, which will provide capital to fund the review and due diligence of potential acquisitions or investments. According to a statement from the company, with 1.3 billion people living in China, even if it secures a tiny market share there should be a significant opportunity.

The board includes Gary Ching, Baldwin Hui and songwriter Geoff Morrow. Set up as a limited liability company in the British Virgin Islands last year, shares in China Sports Development are currently trading on PLUS at 11p.

On 3 February 2012 Plus Markets Group announced a formal sale process to identify ‘appropriate partners for the company or major strategic investors’ and gave a deadline of 30 March for interested parties.

In an update issued on 17 April PLUS revealed that it had received a number of ‘indicative proposals’.

On the back of its sale process rival trading platform Sharemark began offering free admission to PLUS-quoted companies, bypassing an initial £1,950 fee.

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter Ruthven

Hunter was the Editor for GrowthBusiness.co.uk from 2012 to 2014, before moving on to Caspian Media Ltd to be Editor of Real Business.