Promethean to float at 200p

The flotation price of Promethean World, the Blackburn-based maker of electronic whiteboards, has been set at 200p per share.

The company, which is chaired by Graham Howe, co-founder of the Orange mobile phone company, will be placing 92.9m shares with institutional investors, of which 57m shares will be newly issued with the remainder being existing shares held by the current owners.

The flotation is expected to raise in the region of £114m of fresh capital while the holders of the existing shares that are being placed will raise in the region of £71.7m.

Following the share offer various trusts connected to Promethean founder and vice-chairman Tony Cann will own 39.6% of the issued share capital of the company, though this figure may be reduced to 35% subject to an over-allotment option.

The rest of the directors and senior management team will own 10.4% of the company's shares when it floats.

Dealings in the shares are expected to start on Wednesday, 15 March.

Private equity group Apax Partners will use the flotation to realise its investment in Promethean.

The net proceeds from the issue will be used to eliminate existing debt and provide the company with a modest cash surplus.