Manchester property development and investment group, Peel, is selling 19% of its stake in film studio operator Pinewood as part of a major fund-raising deal by the company.
Peel, the largest shareholder in the famous studios is cutting its stake from 58.1% to 39.09%. The Isle of Man treasury also announced the sale of shares to reduce its holding to 4.99%.
In a statement to the stock market, Pinewood Group plc, said the deal would raise £30 million as well as announcing bank facilities of up to £135 million with Lloyds, The Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays.
Chief executive officer, Ivan Dunleavy, commented:
“Today’s announcement represents another significant step forward in the ongoing development of the Company and the implementation of PSDF to the benefit of shareholders as a whole and the UK creative industries. The Board is encouraged by the visibility of the level of forward bookings for the next financial year.”
The official statement explained: “The Net Proceeds of approximately £28.7 million are intended to be used to part fund the first phase of development of the Pinewood Studios Development Framework (“PSDF”) in combination with the New Debt Facilities. In the short term, the Net Proceeds will be used to repay part of the existing debt facilities in order to manage the Group’s capital efficiently and to reduce interest costs. This will then provide headroom in the New Debt Facilities to enable the draw down of funds, as required, for phase one of the PSDF.”
The full announcement is available here.
Last month, The Peel Group also sold 50% of its stake in MediaCityUK to Legal & General Capital, worth around £250m.
