MUMBAI: Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group has announced the successful listing of Codemasters Ltd, its gaming developer and publisher, through admission of its shares to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
Codemaster shares were traded at 260 pence, a 30% premium to Friday’s listing price of 200 pence on LSE’s AIM platform.
The £185 million (about Rs 17 billion) IPO comprised sale of fresh shares worth £15 million and sale of shares to the tune of £170 million by Reliance Group and other management stakeholders. Reliance Group offloaded 60% stake in Codemasters and now hold 29% in the company.
Reliance Group received Rs 14 billion from the IPO sale and the rest of its stake is currently valued at Rs 10 billion.
“Reliance has received net proceeds of Rs 14 billion from the offering, realising substantial capital gains and its residual 29% stake in Codemasters is worth another Rs 10 billion at the current market prices,” the company said in a statement.
“I am delighted with the successful outcome of the Codemasters offering in the international markets,” Reliance Capital Group executive director Anmol Ambani (Anil Ambani’s son) said.
Codemasters is currently valued at around Rs 32 billion.
The UK-based developer is renowned for having licensing rights for games such as Formula 1 and has development studios in UK and Malaysia, having about 500 employees.
According to the Reliance Group, Codemasters’ offering was a major step forward in its strategy of unlocking value from media and entertainment investment, disposing of non-core investment, bringing down Reliance Capital’s overall exposure to Reliance Entertainment and deleveraging the financial services firm’s balance sheet.
With total assets of over Rs 3 trillion, Reliance Group has a presence across financial services, telecom, energy, power, infrastructure and media and entertainment sectors.
