3i's ex-chair to head CD publisher

ALAN WHEATLEY, former chairman of 3i, is to be non- executive chairman of a compact disc publisher that is coming to the stock market at the end of the year, writes John Murray.

Tring International, which publishes and distributes budget-priced CDs and tape cassettes, will be valued at up to pounds 50m in the flotation, which is likely to be via a placing.

Mr Wheatley, a former senior partner of Price Waterhouse, resigned as chairman of 3i in April, angry that the clearing banks that own it cancelled a planned float for the venture capital firm.

Tring made profits of pounds 3.3m before tax in the year to 31 March on turnover of pounds 16.6m, but said that it expected a significant advance this financial year.

The company has a catalogue of more than 800 titles. It was founded in 1990 by its joint managing directors, Mark Frey and Philip Robinson, who between them own 42 per cent of the company.

The pathfinder prospectus for the flotation, sponsored by UBS, will be published next month.