Chereads / I Become A Noble in England / Chapter 285 - Chapter 285: Raising the Issue Price

Chapter 285 - Chapter 285: Raising the Issue Price

When Barron returned to London, Summit Media was conducting a second round of roadshows for their IPO.

  As early as March, Summit Media obtained approval from the UK Listing Authority (UKLA) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and officially started the initial public offering (IPO) process.

  For this IPO of Summit Media, they chose Barclays Bank as their sponsor and underwriter.

  During the first round of roadshows, Barclays Bank set an issue price for Summit Media in the range of 12-13 pounds per share.

  However, because investors were too enthusiastic, the first round of roadshow alone was oversubscribed. Therefore, in this round of roadshow, they raised the issue price to the range of 13.5-15 pounds per share.

  Calculated at a price of only 13.5 pounds per share, this IPO will be able to raise 337.5 million pounds, and its market value will reach 1.6875 billion pounds.

  Because Summit Media's current shareholders, DS Holdings and Sinclair Group, needed to lock up their shares for one year, the 25 million shares issued by Summit Media this time were all new shares, and no original shareholders sold their shares.

  During the roadshow, Summit Media CEO Fergal Hayden announced that the funds raised this time will be used to purchase more program content and increase the company's production capabilities, and will launch their pay channel SD Sports on the Freeview platform this year.

  Because of its high-quality program content represented by "Downton Abbey", "The Traitors" and "Love Island", and the fact that the number of users covered by the Freeview platform has exceeded 12 million, SDTV's audience number is getting closer to ITV, the third largest TV station in the UK.

  Coupled with the upcoming launch of the SD Sports pay channel, investors are extremely optimistic about the prospects of SDTV.

  In particular, on Saturday night, May 1st, "Strictly Come Dancing", produced by Giant Studio, a production company owned by Bonnie Stuart, the hottest producer in Britain and currently the most "top-tier" host, was broadcast on SDTV, and the audience response was very good.

  When the show was first aired, there were only over 3 million viewers. However, as the show progressed, the viewing curve continued to rise, and the final peak reached nearly 7 million!

  At this time, industry insiders were sure that another phenomenal variety show had appeared.

  The success of "Dancing Miracle" has made Giant Studio a well-known program production company. Bonnie has succeeded again and has almost booked all the major awards for variety shows this year.

  At the same time, the success of this program has also made investors more optimistic about Summit Media's IPO. After all, their SDTV is the broadcasting platform for this program.

  Even though the issue price of Summit Media was raised during this roadshow, investors' enthusiasm for it has not subsided.

  …

  Because of Alia's "chance encounter" with Mikhail in New York, after returning to London, Barron did not let her live in the mansion The Holme in Regent's Park as before.

  Instead, she stayed with him all the time and lived in Barron's villa in Kensington.

  And here, he has also strengthened the security force - the number of bodyguards guarding near his residence and accompanying him when he travels has now been doubled.

  At the same time, after the intelligence team obtained as much information as possible about Mikhail, they were also keeping an eye on him through certain official channels - if Mikhail entered Britain under his real name, they would be notified immediately.

  Of course, people like Mikhail are very likely to enter the country with a false identity. Therefore, even with this layer of protection, Baron still did not relax the work of ensuring the safety of himself and those around him.

  "When we have no worries about food and clothing, the elderly are well cared for, and the children are well educated, please do not forget that in many places on the earth, there are still many people who are homeless. Some of the children there have become orphans, and most of them are tortured by hunger, not to mention the opportunity to receive an education..."

  "We, the Devonshire Charity Foundation, are committed to working with caring people who share the same vision to help those poor children so that they can get food, water, health and knowledge. We would like to thank His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, His Royal Highness the Duke of Westminster, His Excellency Viscount Bute, and many more friends for their support and help..."

  As soon as Barron finished speaking, the hall was filled with applause.

  The Devonshire Charity Foundation is holding a fundraising event here today to provide humanitarian aid to children in Africa and Iraq.  

  "I'm glad you're stepping up and doing this, Barron."

  As is often the case, the Prince of Wales was keen to attend these charity events and he patted Barron's arm affectionately and said to him.

  "Compared to what you have done, my humble contribution is not worth mentioning, Your Highness."

  "There is one more thing, Barron. His Majesty will personally receive the guests from Kolo..."

  Hearing the Crown Prince's seemingly casual words, Barron smiled:

  "Congratulations, Your Royal Highness, and Her Majesty the Queen, on our further expansion in the membership of the Commonwealth."

  "You've given us a difficult problem... Barron, we all know what's going on."

  "Cheers, Your Highness..."

  Barron picked up the wine glass beside him, clinked glasses with the Crown Prince, and took a sip:

  "At least this won't be a loss for us, right? The French will restrain themselves. Well, maybe they are eager to get rid of the burden of Kolo..."

  Yesterday, a delegation from the Republic of Cologne, led by Jammeh Bongo, arrived in London by flight.

  This time when he came to England, Jammeh Bongo not only wanted to show goodwill but also hoped to get some assistance from England. Therefore, the delegation was very "pragmatic" and came directly on a civil aviation flight.

  Even President Jammeh Bongo bought an economy class ticket, a move that was praised by some media, including The Independent.

  On the day he arrived in London, Jammeh Bongo was received by the Prime Minister...

  During the meeting, Jammeh talked about his desire to join the Commonwealth, which actually made the Prime Minister quite interested. After all, being able to expand Britain's influence is also one of his political achievements.

  As for their hope to gain Britain's support in the EU's "debt relief", as Barron said, they will not lose anything.

  After all, as a member of the West African Franc Zone, not much of Colo's debt belongs to Britain. Relatively speaking, the Paris Club member countries hold the most Colo debt...

  This is also the reason why Jammeh will only discuss joining the Commonwealth during his meeting with the British Prime Minister and the Queen, but will not mention it in public.

  England and France... most of the time, they're not that close.

  If there is a chance to poach French players and play them off against each other, well, I'm afraid the British will not miss it.

  As a result, Jammeh did not encounter too many obstacles in obtaining the low-interest loan he hoped to obtain. However, the amount would certainly be decided after sufficient discussion.

  But no matter what, Jammeh Bongo will definitely gain something in England this time.

  What's more, Her Majesty the Queen will receive him in person.