Promethean appoints adviser for IPO
NORTH West classroom technology specialist Promethean has appointed Gleacher Shacklock as its financial adviser, as it prepares to go public next year.
It has been known for some time that Blackburn-based Promethean has been planning a £400m initial public offering, but reports that the company has lined up boutique bank Gleacher Shacklock are a strong sign plans are progressing at speed.
Promethean has also appointed Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan as global co-ordinators for the IPO next year.
Tony Cann founded the company in 1996 and still owns about half the company – he stands to become a multi-millionaire on the back of the listing.
Private equity firm Apax owns around 25% of the business after investing in the company back in 2004.
Interactive whiteboards are fast replacing chalkboards in schools and they are already being used in around 75% of British classrooms. The company supplies interactive whiteboards to schools in more than 90 countries and the market is expected to grow at around 30% a year.
The company’s revenues soared 49% to £151m in 2008, and it expects to grow that figure to around £200m this year.
Promethean is chaired by Graham Howe, co-founder of mobile telecoms giant Orange, while its chief executive is Jean-Yves Charlier, who ran COLT Telecom, and before that was chief of operations at BT Global Services.
As well as its Blackburn headquarters, Promethean has offices in the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Bahrain, France and Germany.
