Abano Announces Details of Equity Capital Raising
28 August 2013 MEDIA RELEASE
Abano
Announces Details of Equity Capital Raising
Abano Healthcare Group Limited (NZX:ABA) has today announced the details of the equity capital raising programme that it signaled to the market on 30 July 2013.
The Board has now determined that it is prudent to increase Abano’s share capital by up to $18.5 million by way of an underwritten placement to selected institutions and other eligible persons and a partially underwritten Share Purchase Plan to be offered to all eligible shareholders. Overall, the capital raising is structured so as to provide for substantially pro rata participation by existing shareholders.
Chairman of Abano, Mr Trevor Janes, said: “We have returned $74.0 million in dividend and capital returns to shareholders over the past five years. We have previously indicated that, when needed, we would seek additional capital from our shareholders.
“We remain in an acquisition growth mode, especially in dental in both Australia and New Zealand, with a number of acquisition opportunities. The trans-Tasman dental market is very large and we are looking to build on our position as the second largest Australasian dental provider.
“This capital raising will ensure we have the capacity to continue to invest into dental and our other businesses. It will provide Abano with the flexibility to fund other opportunities as they arise.”
Abano has appointed Forsyth Barr as lead manager, arranger and underwriter of the capital raising.
Placement
Abano has successfully placed a total of 1,554,622 new ordinary shares to placement participants at $5.95 per share, raising $9.25 million. Settlement and allotment of the new shares is expected to occur on 2 September 2013.
Share Purchase Plan
Abano will implement a Share Purchase Plan to raise up to $9.25 million. Under the Share Purchase Plan, shareholders will be invited to subscribe for up to $15,000 of new ordinary shares each, in multiples of $500.
The subscription price will be the lower of the placement price of $5.95 per share and the average end of day market price of Abano shares on the NZX Main Board market over the final five business days of the offer period. 28 August 2013 MEDIA RELEASE
Key
dates
The record date for determining entitlements to participate in the Share Purchase Plan is 5.00pm on 10 September 2013. Other key dates (which are subject to change) are as follows:
• Mailing of Share Purchase Plan to Shareholders: 12 September 2013
• Opening Date: 13 September 2013
• Closing Date: 1 October 2013
• Allotment Date: 8 October 2013
Underwriting and scaling
The Board has decided to limit the Share Purchase Plan underwrite by Forsyth Barr to $5.75 million. The underwritten amount is not a cap. Abano will accept subscriptions of up to a total $9.25 million under the Share Purchase Plan. Above that, subscriptions will be scaled on a proportionate basis relative to the number of shares held by a subscriber on the record date.
ENDS