Blue Star Capital (AIM: BLU ) said its investee company Guild Esports has announced its intention to seek admission to the standard segment of the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trade on the main market of the London Stock Exchange later this year.
The online gaming firm which is co-owned by David Beckman expects to be the first esports franchise to join the LSE and plans to raise £20 million in its London stock market listing.
Roughly 40% of the company’s shares will be available through the listing, according to another person briefed on the plans, the Financial Times reported this morning.
The group told potential investors that it has benefitted from a rapidly growing fan base as the online gaming market witnesses a surge during the pandemic. It said tournaments had attracted bigger audiences than the Wimbledon tennis championships and the US Open.
Guild Esports said the online gaming market is projected to grow to 646m viewers by 2023. The growth in viewers has been matched by revenue generated by esports, increasing from $130m in 2012 to an estimated US$1.1bn in 2020. It is projected to reach $1.55bn by 2023.
Shares in Blue Star Capital have more than doubled from 0.07p in March and were trading 4.44% higher at 0.235p this morning following the announcement.
Guild said it initially plans to set up and field dedicated teams to compete in four online games: Fortnite; CS:Go; Rocket League and FIFA. It said David Beckham will use his global influence and following ‘to support the development of the company’s brand and business.’
The company said it intends to engage up to 20 esports players by the end of 2021.
Zeus Capital and Mirabaud Securities are Guild’s brokers and bookrunners on the IPO.
“Guild has made exceptional progress since its launch last year and the planned listing represents an important step in its ambition of becoming one of the world's top ten esports franchises within three years,” said Tony Fabrizi, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Star.
Blue Star Capital holds 11.7% of the issued share capital of Guild.
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