Media company Nation Media, the owner of Box Nation, has announced its intention to float on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in order to raise in the region of £5m (€6m/$8.2m) for the boxing-dedicated pay-television broadcaster.
The initial public offering is expected to take place within the next two weeks.
“The funds we raise during the IPO process will be used to increase the number of high quality boxing matches broadcast, launch the HD channel, develop international expansion, develop increased pay-per-view capabilities and provide general working capital,” said Nation Media executive chairman Richard Brooke said, who believes the high-definition version of the channel will launch in the first quarter of 2014.
Nation Media said that although it is expected that “much of the capital raised will come from institutional investors,” a proportion of the offer would be made available to “interested retail investors.” The company’s four-man board comprises Brooke, promoter Frank Warren, who founded the channel, as well as Rainham Steel company chairman Bill Ives and BT Vision's head of sport Simon Green.
Brooke told the Alliance News service: “We've only got four shareholders apart from management, so they've all invested a lot of money to get the company to where it is now. We want to have a broader shareholder base to make it to the next stage our development.” He added that Box Nation currently has 100,000 monthly subscribers, but the goal is to increase the figure significantly as there are more than two million boxing fans in the UK. Box Nation is currently only available in the UK, but it is running a test transmission in China.