- Number of shareholders up from 1100 to 3700 after the offer
- 25 pension funds become shareholders in Marel
- Foreign ownership will be around15%
- High level of oversubscription, with maximum stake allocated to each general investor set at a market value of ISK 535 thousand.
Marel’s share offering was completed 14 September, at 16:00hrs. The offering comprised an aggregate of 75 million new shares at a price of ISK 74 per share, giving a total offer size of ISK 5,550 million. The share offer was divided between pre-emptive right holders, institutional investors and the general public. Investors subscribed to shares for a market value of ISK 35.8 billion, substantially more than the total market value of the company. Landsbanki Corporate Finance acted as manager of the offering.
Marel’s Chairman, Árni Oddur Þórðarson, commented “It’s very satisfying that all of the offering’s goals were achieved, with increased shareholder diversification and strong participation by the pension funds. Marel’s strategy and objectives are clear, and this boost to our financial resources enables us to achieve our targets earlier than otherwise.”
Hörður Arnarson, CEO of Marel, said “We’re very gratified by the impressive show of support and confidence in our company by investors, who are evidently keen to make the future vision developed by Marel’s staff over the past few years a reality. There are exciting times ahead, and we’re committed to seizing and building on the numerous opportunities now facing us.”
Pre-emptive right holders were offered to buy 30 million new shares for a total selling price of ISK 2,220 million. Subscriptions worth a total selling price of ISK 5,127 million were received from pre-emptive right holders, an subscription of over two fold. Shareholders could subscribe for an amount greater or less than their pre-emptive rights, with unsubscribed shares distributed in proportion to the pre-emptive rights of the parties so requesting.
Fifteen million new shares were offered to the general public for an aggregate selling price of ISK 1,110 million. A total of 2845 investors took part in this part of the offering, requesting shares worth ISK 1,418 million, which represents oversubscription of 28%. General investors could subscribe for a maximum of 10,000 shares, and investors applying for that maximum will each be allocated 7,235 shares for a selling price of ISK 535,390.
Institutional investors were offered to buy 30 million new shares for an aggregate selling price of ISK 2,220 million. Applications worth a selling price of ISK 29.3 billion in total were received from this group, or more than thirteen fold the amount offered. The institutional investors that took part included all of Iceland’s main pension funds, in addition to mutual funds and investment companies. Marel’s board allocated subscriptions to institutional investors based on the following rules:
- 70%% of the shares in this part of the offer were allocated to pension funds
- 30% of the shares in this part of the offer were allocated to other institutional investors
The total number of shares in Marel following the offering and the delivery of shares to Scanvægt Holding ApS will be 367,080,732. Eyrir Invest hf. will continue to be Marel’s largest single shareholder with a 25% stake, followed by Landsbanki Íslands with 24% and Scanvægt Holding with 14%.
Payment instructions will be sent out at the beginning of next week, with payments due on 22 September. The aim is to increase Marel’s share capital and register the new shares at the Icelandic Securities Depository no later than 29 September 2006, and list them on the Iceland Stock Exchange no later than 2 October 2006.
Source: www.marel.is
