PE firm Blue Coast edges closer to 30% interest in Everyman Media

(Sharecast News) - The Blue Coast Capital board representative for Everyman Media has bought just over 118,500 shares in the company, taking the private equity firm's interest closer to the 30% takeover threshold. A regulatory filing on Thursday showed that Michael Rosehill bought the shares a day earlier, at 24.5p each. Following the purchase, he now has a direct interest in 337,228 ordinary shares, representing 0.37% of the issued share capital.

Rosehill, a director of Blue Coast, also has an indirect interest in the PE firm's shareholding of just over 26.6m shares, equating to a 29.2% interest.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said the increased interest has fuelled bid speculation.

"Tongues were wagging around the intentions of private equity group Blue Coast as it sits close to the point at which it would be compelled to make a takeover offer for cinemas group Everyman," he said. "Blue Coast owns 29.2% of Everyman - hitting 30% would require a mandatory offer for the remaining shares.

"Blue Coast's representative on the Everyman board, Michael Rosehill, has just bought £29,036 worth of shares in a personal capacity. One could apply the same logic in that both Blue Coast and its representative see great value in the business in its current depressed state.

"Everyman's shares have fallen by 81% over the past five years as investors worry about the future of the cinema industry in an at-home streaming world."