British esports organisation Guild Esports has disclosed in a form filed with the London Stock Exchange that a Dubai-based investor has acquired about 66.7m shares, totalling 8.28% of voting rights shares in the company.
The shares were purchased by ‘Mr. Koshy Vinod’, according to the form, and would make him the third largest shareholder per a list of significant shareholders on Guild’s website.
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It is a regulatory requirement to notify the London Stock Exchange when an investor acquires a significant number of voting shares in a listed company, though it does not imply Guild was involved in the share acquisition. Koshy Vinod passed the threshold for notifying the London Stock Exchange on May 8th.
The identity of Koshy Vinod was not immediately clear. Aside from listing his name and the place of completion of the acquisition — Dubai, United Arab Emirates — no further information about the investor was available via the filing. It was also not clear whether the name in the form was in Given Name, Surname format or vice versa.
Esports Insider reached out to Guild to ask if it had any clarity on the identity of the new shareholder and for comment, but the company did not respond prior to publication. It is possible that Guild Esports did not have any involvement in facilitating Koshy’s share acquisition, since the company’s shares are publicly traded.
However, Guild Esports has said in previous releases that expansion into the MENA region is a priority for the British esports organisation.
In late 2023, Guild raised at least £500,000 from selling 100m shares to gaming brand 00Nation to fuel expansion, particularly focused on MENA. Guild is also one of 30 clubs accepted as part of the Saudi Arabian government-funded Esports World Cup’s Club Support Program.
