R4E.L Regulatory News (R4E)

20 Oct 2005 07:00

First Artist Corporation PLC20 October 2005 First Artist Corporation plc Placing to raise £400,000 and repayment of convertible loan First Artist Corporation plc ("FAC" or the "Company"), a leading pan-Europeanentertainment and player representation group, announces that it has todayraised £400,000 through a placing of 7,619,048 new ordinary shares of 0.25 penceeach ("Shares") at 5.25 pence per Share, which represents 8.5% of the enlargedissued share capital of the Company. Application has today been made for the Shares to be admitted to trading on AIMand dealings are expected to commence on 25 October 2005. Upon admission of theShares, the net proceeds will be applied by the Company in repaying the £0.4million convertible loan provided by Montgomery Equity Partners, LP ("MEP") on13 September 2005. For further information: First Artist Corporation plcJon Smith, Chief Executive Tel. + 44 (0) 20 8900 1818 Richard Hughes, Finance Director Shore Capital Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7408 4090Alex Borrelli Notes to Editors First Artist Corporation plc (FAN.LN) was founded by Chief Executive Jon Smithin 1986. It has offices in London, Milan, the USA and Middle East. Its playerrepresentation division, First Artist Management ("FAM") is one of world'sleading football management groups and is one of a handful of agencies whosepersonnel hold both FIFA match and transfer licences. FAM is working with otherleading European agencies, senior European clubs and leagues to enhance theposition, reputation and transparency of the football transfer market and inparticular the role of agents. The group joined the AIM market in December 2001. In August 2005 the groupsuccessfully acquired FSA registered IFA, ABG Financial Management Ltd. for amaximum consideration of £3 million in cash and shares and in September 2005 thegroup also acquired corporate event management business, The Finishing Touch(corporate events) Limited for a maximum consideration of £3.3 million in cashand shares. First Artist also offers a complete in-house management service with specialistdivisions for Financial Management, Marketing, Media Management, Television /Media Production, Event Production and Sponsorship. The Media/CommercialDivision represents top sporting and TV personalities. First Artist's clientroster exceeds 200 individuals primarily involved with the sports and televisionindustry. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange