Blue Star Capital plc Guild Esport Investment Update (9974Q)

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RNS Number : 9974Q

Blue Star Capital plc

25 June 2020

25 June 2020

Blue Star Capital plc

("Blue Star" or the "Company")

Guild Esports Investment Update

Blue Star Capital plc (AIM: BLU), the investing company with a focus on esports, payments, technology and its applications within media and gaming, is pleased to provide the following update regarding its investee company Guild Esports plc ("Guild").

Blue Star notes that Guild has today formally announced its global launch and association with David Beckham, an investor in Guild. Guild is developing a talent pipeline in the UK, based on the traditional academy model, with the intention that the most able esports players are coached and nurtured by industry leaders in order to attain the skillset required to compete professionally. Guild's intention is for a roster of scouts to continually find and sign the best young talent.

Guild has established a management team of esports veterans with experience as professional players, coaches and esports media. Guild Executive Chairman, Carleton Curtis, is well-known in the industry and architect of the Overwatch League and Call Of Duty Leagues. Prior to joining Guild, he held senior esports roles at Activision Blizzard and Red Bull. His expertise complements David Beckham's position in the world of mainstream sports to create a unique esports proposition.

Guild intends to develop into various esports disciplines over the course of the 2020/2021 season with its first team making its debut in autumn 2020 expecting to compete in the most popular titles including Rocket League, EA Sports FIFA and Fortnite. The Company's ambition is to build a culture of excellence around its brand and digital presence.

The directors of Guild consider David Beckham's move into esports to be a natural progression given his experience developing sports businesses, most recently through his co-ownership of Inter Miami CF in the MLS and his passion for guiding youth talent to achieve excellence. His involvement in the launch of Guild is a significant opportunity to introduce his level of professional sports acumen to the world of esports and further strengthen this evolving sport.

Guild further announces that London-based artist Fergus Purcell, creator of the iconic identity for skate wear label Palace, will design its brand and develop for it a lifestyle apparel line. Fergus has collaborated with a diverse roster of fashion designers and music artists from Marc Jacobs, Paul Smith and Alexander McQueen to 2manydjs.

Follow-on Investment in Guild

Further to the announcement of 4 May 2020, the Company advises that, pursuant to its anti-dilution rights attached to its initial investment in Guild, it is investing a further GBP480,000 in order to maintain its shareholding of 11.7 per cent. of Guild. The investment has been made at a price of 6p per share, which compares to the Company's initial investment at 1p per share.

Related Party Transactions

The investment in Guild, of which Derek Lew is a director, is a related party transaction for the purposes of Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies (the "AIM Rules"). The directors, with the exception of Derek Lew, consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, that the terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.

Tony Fabrizi, CEO of Blue Star said, "We are very pleased to announce today's news from Guild regarding its global launch and the association with David Beckham. The team behind Guild is incredibly strong and gives us great confidence that the company has an exciting future."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

For further information, please contact:

 
 Blue Star Capital plc           [phone] 
 Tony Fabrizi 
 
 Cairn Financial Advisers 
  LLP                            [phone] 
 (Nominated Adviser & Broker) 
 Jo Turner / Liam Murray 
 
 

About Blue Star Capital plc

Blue Star is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star's investments include a 27.7% holding in SatoshiPay, a payments business using blockchain technology; investments in 6 early stage esports companies with shareholdings ranging from 11% to 18% and a 0.9% investment in Sthaler, an identity and payments technology business which enables a consumer to identify themselves and pay using just their finger.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [e-mail] or visit www.rns.com.

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June 25, 2020 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)