Incisive Media cuts through market gloom to confirm IPO
- Added:
- Nov 30, 2000
24,288,638 ordinary shares were placed, of which 7,724,138 are new ordinary shares being issued by the company to raise approximately 11.05m before expenses, while 16,564,500 were shares being sold by existing shareholders.
The announcement accompanied the publication of Incisive Media's prospectus and the opening of its retail offer for "eligible employees, nominated persons, and subscribers of Investor's Week and Bloomberg Money as of 24 November 2000 and registered readers of Investment Week, as of 13 November 2000". Of the new ordinary shares, 2,428,864 were placed subject to clawback under the retail offer.
The placing has been sponsored and fully underwritten by Investec Henderson Crosthwaite.
Chief executive Tim Weller said: "I am delighted by the enthusiastic support we have received from investors over the last few weeks, despite difficult markets. It is extraordinarily good news, especially if you think that Caf Nero had to pull their float and Riversoft scaled down their pricing. We are a solid profitable business that the markets liked and had an appetite for and we are thrilled at being two times oversubscribed."
Asked how bad sentiment on the markets really was, Weller said: "We were nervous, but we managed to get a very good range of 23 well-known institutionals. It is a good spread. Investec did a great job in a very choppy market."
Speaking for Investec, director of corporate finance Nigel Tose said: "Conditions were difficult. The market was very adverse, but it liked the strength of the management and the fact that they have a track record".
The offer, priced at 143p, values the company at approximately 71.2m and trading is expected to commence on 15 December 2000, with the group being classified in the media sector.
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