IVE Group executive chairman Geoff Selig has announced the company has successfully completed an institutional placement to raise $18 million from existing and new institutional investors as the integration of parts of Ovato begins.

A statement from IVE to the ASX this morning says, “Approximately 8.0m new fully paid ordinary shares (New Shares) are expected to be issued under the Placement at $2.25 per New Share (Placement Price), representing a 5.5% discount to the last close price on Friday September 16 2022.”

The statement also says, “Concurrently, with the Placement, the Selig Family successfully completed a non-underwritten sell down of 4.5m ordinary IVE shares at the Placement Price.” In a presentation released yesterday about the placement, it was noted that the Selig family “remain fully committed to the pursuit of continued growth and returns for IVE and currently have no intention of selling any additional shares beyond the 4.5m shares sold at the Placement Price.”

IVE Group executive chairman Geoff Selig said, “We are delighted with the strong support we received for the placement from our existing and new shareholders. We thank existing shareholders for their continued support and welcome our new investors.

“We are pleased that investors have recognised the strategic value of the Ovato transaction and will now mobilise to integrate the acquired Ovato assets into IVE’s existing operations to optimise operating leverage and deliver synergies.”

IVE Group says the capital raising will preserve significant balance sheet capacity for IVE to pursue previously announced growth initiatives including further organic initiatives including the Lasoo e-commerce marketplace and the support of further opportunistic ‘bolt-on’ and/or strategic acquisitions in the adjacent packaging sector.

The company added the capital raise will also “strengthen and deepen IVE’s institutional shareholder base, increasing liquidity in the market for IVE shares”.

Settlement of the new shares and selldown shares is expected to occur on Tuesday September 27 2022 with allotment and normal trading on Wednesday September 28.

In addition, IVE is also offering existing eligible shareholders the opportunity to participate in a non-underwritten Share Purchase Plan (SPP), to raise approximately $2 million.

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