ShareCast – Private equity group BlueGem is to take a 40% stake in stockbroker Panmure Gordon in a move that will inject £17.3m of capital into the broker.Panmure Gordon has placed 72m new shares with BlueGem at 24p per share.
The acquisition of the stake represents BlueGem’s fourth investment and its first in the financial services sector. The company was formed in late 2006 by experienced investment bankers and fund managers to make investments in mid-market companies, predominantly in the UK and Italy.
The net proceeds from the placing will ‘significantly strengthen the company’s balance sheet’, the company said, giving it regulatory assets in excess of £40m, more than three times more than its required regulatory capital.
