IkeGPS raises $5.25m in share placement at 60 cents a share

IkeGPS [NZX: IKE], the laser measurement toolmaker, has placed more than 8 million ordinary shares with institutional and sophisticated investors at 60 cents a share, 13 percent below the previously traded price and almost half the price achieved when it floated on the NZX at $1.10 in 2014.

The Wellington-based company placed 8,742,365 shares, raising $5.25 million. Its shares were placed in a halt on Monday but have fallen 7.3 percent since trading resumed this afternoon to 64 cents.

In a statement, IkeGPS said the buyers were several new "Australian institutional and wholesale investors" as well as "existing New Zealand institutional and cornerstone shareholders." The transaction is expected to settle on Aug. 12.

It has also set out plans to raise $3 million from existing shareholders through a share purchase plan, again at the price of 60 cents a share. Details are to be published once they have been finalised with the NZX.

IkeGPS also now intends to seek a listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, with the intention of dual-listing within 90 days, subject to regulatory requirements.

The money raised is to be used to further expand sales and marketing in the United States and the wider international market, to develop mobile apps to support customer needs and for working capital.

"We welcome the new Australian institutional and wholesale investors onto our register and are pleased to have had extensive support from our existing NZ institutional and cornerstone shareholders," IkeGPS chief executive Glenn Milnes said.

In the year to the end of March 31, IkeGPS more than doubled sales to $9.2 million but its net loss widened to $8.8 million from $5.1 million a year earlier. The company today repeated that prior to the capital raising it remained on track to be cash breakeven in the fourth quarter of its 2017 financial year.

Shares in IkeGPS have fallen 1.4 percent since the start of the year, while the S&P/NZX All Index has risen 14 percent.

(BusinessDesk)

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