TV-Loonland opens up markets; Heidi feature announced

C21 Media reports that “UK and German-based independent children’s producer TV-Loonland has applied to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in an attempt to attract interest from British investors. The company, which is taking a solid programme slate to next month’s Mipcom, has filed for listing on the AIM index from September 30. TV-Loonland is planning to unveil a strong line-up of properties at Cannes, centered around a new 80-minute feature film adaptation of the children’s classic Heidi“. For the full story, read on here:

“TV-Loonland applied to list shares on London Stock Exchange:

The company, which is taking a solid programme slate to next month’s Mipcom, has filed for listing on the AIM index from September 30. This will be a secondary listing and shares will continue to trade on the German stock exchange’s Prime Standard.

The company’s share price rose from €1.80 to €2.20 when the news reached investors yesterday, but has since dropped to just over €1.90.

David Ferguson, TV-Loonland’s UK-based COO and president of core activities, told C21: ‘The German market is not exactly thriving after people got so badly burned in the dotcom crash. The UK’s AIM index is the only one in Europe that is burgeoning for smaller companies and it’s the only way to go for us at the moment.’

The company is confident that it will achieve higher share validity from its listing on the AIM. Ferguson said: ‘Every body loves you more when you’ve got a good stock price and this is one of the few markets that values media assets.’

However, he strongly denied that the move was a precursor to a sell-off or merger, saying: ‘Being on the AIM index is simply a way for us to raise capital in the future by issuing stock quickly and easily into the UK market.’

Meanwhile, TV-Loonland is planning to unveil a strong line-up of properties at Cannes next month, centred around a new 80-minute feature film adaptation of the children’s classic Heidi.

Feguson claims the remake will be a ‘refreshing version that will reflect the more sophisticated animation techniques of today’. Full delivery of the film on an international level is expected in December this year.

The company will also present a new preschool series entitled Rudy & Trudi (26×11′), as well as a second instalment of The Cramp Twins (26×30′), which has already enjoyed success on both Cartoon Network and CBBC.

Mipcom will also see TV-Loonland’s first cgi series, Dragon’s Rock (26×23′), a coproduction with Germany’s Super-RTL that tells the story of a family of dragons trying to cope with daily life.”