£83m Pinewood makes the Grade

MICHAEL GRADE, the newly appointed Governor of the BBC, has netted a tidy sum from today's £83m London Stock Exchange flotation of Pinewood Shepperton Studios.

The deal also nets multi-million pound figures for Pinewood's management, film director brothers Tony and Ridley Scott and venture capitalist 3i, which is selling its stake via the float.

Grade, who is executive chairman of Pinewood, will retain his 1.35% stake, worth £1.1m at today's float price. Chief executive Ivan Dunleavy's 2.34% stake is valued at £1.9m while the Scotts net almost £10m for their combined holding.

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.'

3i will make a healthy profit from selling down its majority shareholding today. It led Grade's £62m Pinewood management buyout four years ago and the subsequent purchase of Shepperton for £35m.

Pinewood shares were priced at 180p, valuing the equity at £82.5m including £46.2m of new money raised by the sale of more than 27m shares.

Adding in £45m of debt, Pinewood has an enterprise value of about £127.5m. Cazenove was sole sponsor, financial adviser and book-runner for the float.