Zeus is delighted to have acted as Sole Bookrunner and Nominated Adviser to LBG Media plc (“LBG Media”, the “Group” or the “Company”) on its initial public offering on AIM, raising £111 million, achieving a market capitalisation of £360 million. The Placing attracted strong support from a high-quality list of blue chip, long only institutional investors.
This deal is the latest phase of LBG Media’s evolution, with proceeds from the placing releasing liquidity for founders and existing investors, whilst also raising £30 million to support the Group’s growth and expansion plans.
Company information
LBG Media is a multi-brand, multi-channel digital youth publisher and is a leading disrupter in the digital media and social publishing sectors. The Company produces and distributes digital content across a range of mediums including video, editorial, image, audio, and experience (virtual and augmented reality).
Since its inception in 2012, the Group has curated ten core specialist brands using social media platforms (primarily Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Youtube and TikTok) to reach new audiences and drive engagement. Each brand is dedicated to a distinct popular interest point (e.g. sport, gaming etc.) and is designed to achieve broader engagement, increase relevance and ultimately build a loyal community of followers.
Zeus team
Members of the Zeus team included: Benjamin Robertson (ECM); Nick Cowles, Dan Bate, Richard Darlington, Kieran Russell and Daniel Phillips (Corporate Finance); and Rachel Birkett (Equity Research).
Zeus will continue to advise LBG Media as its retained Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker.
Solly Solomou
Co-founder and CEO of LBG MediaThis is a significant step in our journey and a very exciting development for the business. It is a measure of our staff’s collective efforts and drive in enabling us to provide our communities with the content they want. When we founded the business in 2012, we could not have imagined that we would build one of the world’s most successful online youth publishers, a journey we are excited to continue as we begin our life as a public company. We will continue in our mission to provide the youth generation with a voice by continuing to grow our global community.
I would like to thank the Zeus team for their hard work advising LBG Media and leading the advisor group throughout what has been an intense IPO process. Zeus’ knowledge of our business and support in positioning LBG Media with investors has been invaluable in delivering a successful result. Zeus demonstrated extensive knowledge of both the digital media landscape and the dynamics of founder-led businesses and delivered a fantastic deal for both existing and new shareholders.
I am excited to start the next stage of LBG Media’s journey as a public company and working with Zeus and our new investors.
Nick Cowles
Deputy Head of Corporate Finance at ZeusCongratulations to the LBG Media team on a brilliant transaction. We are delighted to have supported LBG Media over the recent years and especially throughout this very successful IPO.
We believe LBG Media is a unique business in a very high growth segment of the market and has an exciting future ahead both in the UK and globally. It’s incredible to see how the business has grown and maintained its market position as the leading digital youth publisher with, on average, over 77 million views of its content daily.
We look forward to supporting the entire team led by Solly, Arian and Tim for many years to come.
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