Codemasters enters AIM with £280m valuation
Warwickshire-based Codemasters, which develops the official range of Formula One games, is set to float on London Stock Exchange’s junior market later this week with a valuation of £280m.
Its placing on the Alternative Investment Market on Friday will net £170m for selling shareholders while the placing of new shares will raise £15m for the company.
The placing is expected to raise around £159.9m for Reliance Big Entertainment, the company’s Indian owner and an aggregate of approximately £10.1m for the executive directors and senior management of the company.
The company says the placing will provide the group with additional working capital for its growth strategy, which includes recruiting new talent, extending the reach of its existing franchises onto more platforms, and investment in marketing to reach a wider audience of gamers.
Codemasters, which was founded by David Darling and his brother Richard in 1986, is one of the oldest British game studios.
The group, which originally made games for the Commodore PC and Spectrum console, has around 500 full time employees and also has operations in Birmingham, Runcorn in Cheshire, and an overseas location in Kuala Lumpur, which is an art production facility.
