Treasury Minister Eddie Teare says the sale of Pinewood shares at a profit of 50 per cent proves it’s been a successful investment.
The shares sale, which makes a net profit in the region of £2.5m for the Manx exchequer, was announced on the Stock Exchange on Tuesday morning.
It cuts the Manx government holding in the film studios from 9.9 per cent to 4.99 per cent but it still holds shares valued at around £10.7m.
Pinewood’s management of the island’s media development fund, which is a separate arrangement, is unaffected by the sale.
Mr Teare said Pinewood had wanted to improve liquidity in its shares as a part of a move to raise capital for the £200m expansion of its studios at Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, which was given the go-ahead last year.
He said: ‘Pinewood has been raising capital for the expansion of its studios and this has presented us with an opportunity to realise the value of some of our shareholding in the group.
‘Fifty per cent is a nice return on an investment so this is very good news for the government and public of the Isle of Man. It’s been a very successful investment.’
The Treasury purchased a total of 4,891,582 shares at £2.50 a share in October 2012 - at a total cost of £12.23m taken from the government’s investment reserves.
Today, the Treasury sold 2,026,827 of those shares and now retains 2,864,755. Peel Holdings also agreed to sell a proportion of its shares.
The Isle of Man’s overall stake in Pinewood has halved to 4.99 per cent although Treasury has sold less than half – 41.4 per cent - of its shares.
Shares were sold at £3.75, raising £7.6m and making a profit of £2.5m. Valuing the remaining shares at £3.75 gives a figure of £10.7m.
As part of the 2012, Pinewood Film Advisers Ltd was appointed to act as investment manager for the £25m contained in the Media Development Fund.