Pinewood to run Isle of Man film fund

Pinewood Shepperton, which owns the famous British film studio, has finalised a deal with the Isle of Man Treasury (IOMT) to manage a 25 million pound media development fund.

The firm will advise on film investment opportunities for IOMT and undertake UK distribution activities for an initial period of five years.

Pinewood will make money from the deal primarily through charging an annual management fee and earning a commission on films introduced by Pinewood in which the IOMT subsequently invests.

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The deal is subject to the thumbs up from the Financial Services Authority, which Pinewood expects to receive within the next few weeks.

"This agreement is a further example of extending the reach of the Pinewood brand and builds on the company's successful Pinewood Films initiative to play a bigger role in UK independent film and television production," said Chief Executive Ivan Dunleavy.

Analysts at Brewin Dolphin said the IOMT tie-up is a positive development.

"Financially it is clearly accretive and strategically a further step in diversifying Pinewoods revenue stream, " said Brewin's Sahill Shan.

"Commentary on current trading is equally encouraging too. We maintain a Hold with a SOTP driven share price target of 262p."

As part of the deal, Goodweather Investment Management - a member of the Peel Group - has agreed to sell 4.9m shares in the capital of Pinewood to IOMT at a price of 250p / share.

This reduces Peel Holdings' equity stake in Pinewood by 9.9% to around 0.58%.