Mining contractor and services group Tasmea has capitalised on gossip about looming director sales by nailing a $43 million capital raising.
Mining contractor and services group Tasmea has capitalised on gossip about looming director sales by nailing a $43 million capital raising.
Unveiled on Monday, Tasmea's placement of 10 million shares to institutional investors at $4.30 is a 16 cent discount to its price ahead of management calling a trading halt last week.
Tasmea's shares jumped from around $4.20 on Wednesday after it gave a carefully worded denial of media gossip that Tasmea co-founders Stephen Young and Mark Vartuli were looking at selling part of their register-clogging holdings.
After the share sales gossip was published, Sydney-based advice group Unified Capital Partners approached Tasmea about the underwritten share placement to institutional investors.
In a statement to the stock exchange disclosing the placement and Unified's $100,000 clip, Mr Young said the Tasmea board was pleased with the support from existing and new institutional investors.
Mr Young, who owns more than $400 million of Tasmea shares, said the $42.9 million cash injection would allow the company to reduce debt and accelerate its pursuit of growth strategies.
Mr Young also pointed to the $43 million raising improving liquidity in Tasmea shares and broadening the company's "institutional register", but he made only a passing reference to the share sales gossip that preceded the approach from Unified.
Most of Mr Young's 41 per cent stake in Tasmea is due to come out of escrow on September 29, as is the lion's share of Mr Vetuli's 18 per cent holding and fellow executive director Jason Pryde's 1.8 per cent stake.
The sales restrictions date back to Tasmea's float in April last year, when new shareholders were offered 37.8 million shares at what now appears to be the bargain-basement price of $1.56.
In response to the report on Wednesday about looming director share sales, Tasmea said neither Mr Young, Mr Vartuli nor Mr Pryde directors had any intention "at this time or in the immediate future of selling down their current equity holdings".
It told the ASX it recently had conducted "confidential discussions with its investment bankers about regarding the optimal pathway to ASX 300 index inclusion".
Tasmea's tight register is potentially limiting the full recognition of Tasmea's market success given compilation rules focus on the so-called free float of shares and make downward adjustments of director holdings.
