Versarien plc (LON:VRS), the advanced materials group, announced on 3 March 2017 the launch of a fundraising comprising a placing by WH Ireland Group Plc (LON:WHI) in conjunction with an offer via PrimaryBid to raise approximately £1 million at 15p per new ordinary share.
CEO Neill Ricketts caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the successful close of a fund-raise. Neill explains what was done and who supported the raise, what the proceeds will be used for and what we can expect from the company in the coming months.
The Company was today delighted to announce that it has successfully completed the Fundraising. The Fundraising received a very strong response from private and institutional investors, and the Fundraising was oversubscribed. The Offer was on a “first come, first served” basis and was closed early at 7.00 p.m. on 4 March 2017, with the Fundraising having already been approximately 50% oversubscribed by that time. The Company has therefore decided to increase the size of the Fundraising in order to meet this demand. The Company will therefore issue and allot a total of 10,036,699 new ordinary shares (“New Ordinary Shares”) to satisfy the Fundraising. The gross proceeds of the Fundraising are £1,505,504.85.
Henderson Global Investors and Miton Group Plc, each of whom are substantial shareholders in the Company, have subscribed for 1,333,333 and 1,333,334 new ordinary shares respectively in the Fundraising. Their subscriptions constitute a related party transactions under the AIM Rules as each currently holds more than 10% of the existing ordinary shares and is therefore a “substantial shareholder” under the AIM Rules. The Directors, all of whom are independent for the purposes of this transaction, consider, having consulted with WH Ireland Plc, the Company’s nominated adviser, that the terms of Henderson’s and Miton’s subscriptions are fair and reasonable insofar as the Shareholders are concerned.
Application will be made to the London Stock Exchange for the New Ordinary Shares, which rank pari passu with the Company’s existing Ordinary Shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM. Dealings are expected to commence at 8.00 a.m. on 10 March 2017.
Neill Ricketts, Chief Executive Officer of Versarien, commented: “We are delighted with the support we have received from both existing and new institutional and private investors for the Fundraising. In particular we are delighted with the support we have received from private investors through PrimaryBid and to have the opportunity to increase the size of the Fundraising to satisfy some of that demand.
“The funds raised will allow us to significantly scale up both our graphene manufacturing capabilities and our marketing efforts to take advantage of the substantial commercial opportunities we are seeing. Versarien is at the forefront of the commercialisation of graphene and the Fundraising will allow us to more widely market our recently launched graphene brand, Nanene, and increase the resources available to the other graphene projects we are working on. We look forward to these funds allowing us to accelerate the use of graphene in a variety of commercial applications.”
Total Voting Rights
Following the issue of the New Ordinary Shares, the Company will have 131,330,702 ordinary shares of 1p each in issue. No ordinary shares are held in treasury. The figure of 131,330,702 may be used by the Company’s shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.