Promethean founder eyes float bonanza

By SIMON DUKE FOR MAILONLINE
Updated:

The British businessman behind one of the world's biggest makers of classroom whiteboards is set to be elevated into the ranks of the super-rich.

Tony Cann, an entrepreneur in his early 70s, is in line for a windfall of more than £200million when Blackburn-based Promethean is floated on the stock exchange next year.

The company is a leader in classroom technology - a market that is expanding rapidly as schools strive to prepare pupils for the digital world.

Classroom

The company is a leader in classroom technology


Its whiteboards allow teachers to display information from a computer on a big screen and then make changes with a stick of digital 'chalk'.

News of Cann's bonanza came as staff at fund management giant Gartmore geared up for a pre-Christmas gold rush.

The group is raising around £400million from its forthcoming debut on the London Stock Exchange.

Some £280million will be used to pay down debt. But the remainder will be shared between Gartmore stock-pickers and private equity group Hellman & Friedman, which owns 58pc of the business.

The fund-raising is expected to value Gartmore at between £730million and £870million - slightly less than its advisers at Citigroup had hoped.

The float raises the prospect of a multimillion-pound bounty for 'star' trader Roger Guy, who runs Gartmore's hedge fund divisions and is believed to own more than 10pc of the group. Gartmore will complete its offering by the middle of next month, selling shares to institutional investors for between 250p and 330p each.

Promethean has appointed investment firm Gleacher Shacklock to advise on a possible float.

It also has Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Cazenove waiting in the wings to underwrite a public offering, which would value the company at between £400million and £500million.

The publicity-shy Cann founded Promethean in the 1990s and is currently vice-chairman and still owns around half of the company. Sources said he's unlikely to sell down much of his stake.

Private equity firm Apax Partners owns roughly a quarter of the company, and is expected to sell all of its shares if the group proceeds with a London quote. Staff control the remainder of Promethean.

Its profits soared by 60 per cent to £22million last year and are expected to continue rising strongly as schools around the world upgrade from dusty blackboards.

Most watched Money videos