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Pinewood Debates Management Buyout

By TIM ADLER in London | Monday August 23, 2010 @ 8:05am PDTTags: Crystal Amber, Michael Grade, Michael Grade Pinewood Shepperton, Pinewood Finance, Pinewood Shepperton Finance, Pinewood Studios, UK Film Producers

The publicly-quoted studio facility faces a renewed attack by shareholder Crystal Amber on Wednesday, when it announces its half-year results. Pinewood is expected to announce operating profits have fallen from last year’s £3.3 million ($5 million). Crystal Amber thinks that all the value of the company is locked up in its property portfolio. But Michael Grade, chairman of Pinewood Shepperton, insists Pinewood is a media company, not a property developer. Crystal Amber counters that the studio group hasn’t been paying its property assets enough attention. Stockbroker Investec has calculated that 82% of Pinewood’s value lies in its property assets, not studio operations. The group could make a lot of money selling off some of its portfolio.

Grade and his team are thinking about taking Pinewood Shepperton private again, says the Sunday Times. Crystal Amber has been quietly building up its shareholding to nearly 27% — just edging past second-biggest shareholder Peel Holdings. One idea might be to spin off Pinewood’s property management to a Peel executive, freeing up Grade and CEO Ivan Dunleavy to concentrate on running the studio. Hollywood movies shooting in Britain this summer include Disney’s Pirates Of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, X-Men: First Class – both at Pinewood – and Captain America, filming at Shepperton.

Pinewood shares floated at 180p back in 2004, but today are worth only 168p.

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Michael Grade Shrugs Off Call For Him To Quit As Pinewood Shepperton Boss

By TIM ADLER in London | Tuesday June 29, 2010 @ 7:19am PDTTags: Crystal Amber Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Finance, Foreign, Michael Grade, Michael Grade Pinewood Shepperton, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Pinewood Shepperton Finance

Michael_GradeThe former ITV chairman has survived a shareholder rebellion at this morning’s annual general meeting of the company that owns Pinewood and Shepperton film studios.

Crystal Amber, an activist investment fund with 18% of the shares in Pinewood Shepperton has attacked Grade’s … Read More »

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