David Beckham's Guild Esports Raises GBP20 Million In London IPO

Former England football captain David Beckham’s Guild Esports PLC has raised GBP20 million as part of its plans to list on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, the company said Tuesday.

The company issued 250 million ordinary shares at 8 pence each under a “significantly oversubscribed” placing.

Guild is a UK-based owner and developer of esports teams, which counts Beckham amongst its founding shareholders.

The company plans to create its own esports team to compete in major tournaments. It also plans to establish player training and scouting infrastructure, based on similar models seen from Premier League football teams.

Guild initially plans to set up and field dedicated teams to compete in four online games: Fortnite; CS:Go; Rocket League and FIFA. The company hopes to have up to 20 esports players by the end of 2021 across its chosen game formats.

Guild currently has one FIFA player and three Rocket League players.

AIM-listed investment firm Blue Star Capital PLC, which owns a stake in Guild, separately said the placing values Guild at GBP41.2 million.

Blue Star has invested GBP706,000 in Guild and, on stock market admission, Blue Star will own around 6% stake in Guild, valued at GBP2.5 million, based on the 8p placing price.

Shares in Blue Star were trading 4.1% higher at 0.22 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon. Guild starts trading on Friday.

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