Jordan sells 40% of Virtual Spectator

By Naomi Mahon

Friday 6th June 2003

Wellington-based businessman Neville Jordan has sold a 40% stake in sports entertainment company Virtual Spectator to a multinational financial technology company based in Bermuda.

Best known for its success in animating the Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup yacht races, Virtual Spectator was bought by Mr Jordan's investment company, Endeavour Capital, in May 2000.

Mr Jordan restructured the company and changed its emphasis from selling software products over the internet to brand partnering and co-branding. He is understood to have been negotiating selling part of Virtual Spectator for some weeks. Yesterday he confirmed Bermuda-based Investors Guaranty Fund had bought a chunk of the company for an undisclosed sum.

The company is privately owned by over 150 individuals and corporations mainly involved in the securities, insurance, investment and technology fields. According to its website Investors Guaranty owns worldwide patents on "insurance securitisation, asset transformation, and loss mitigation technologies."

Investors Guaranty chief executive and chairman Douglas King and executive vice-president and treasurer Douglas Love are directors of Virtual Spectator.

All the money generated from the sale will be ploughed back into Virtual Spectator. It is understood the company has plans to roll out some new products in the non-sports area.

Meanwhile, Virtual Spectator, through Mr Jordan's company Endeavour Capital, has bought the sports division of Melbourne-based television graphics company Pineapplehead for $700,000. Pineapplehead will also receive 40% of the sports division's earnings after ebita for 2003/04, up to a maximum of $270,000.

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