Some 55 million Parthus Technologies shares are to be sold in an offer that would raise about £136 million sterling (#235.3 million) at yesterday's prices. The company designs silicon chips for mobile phones.
The shares, which closed at £2.47 sterling in normal trading in London and were trading at $361/8 at midday in New York yesterday, will be priced in the week starting November 6th, depending on market conditions. Some 46,699,295 ordinary shares, or 85 per cent of the shares on offer, will be sold by existing Parthus shareholders including the company's cofounders and its chairman. The company will issue some 8,300,705 ordinary shares.
The co-founders, chief executive Mr Brian Long and chief financial officer Mr Peter McManamon, and chairman Mr Michael Peirce will sell up to 10 per cent of their holdings. Mr Long currently owns 23 per cent of the company's 533 million shares in issue. A sale of 10 per cent of his holding, or just over 12 million shares, would raise some £30 million sterling for Mr Long at yesterday's London closing price. Mr McManamon, who owns 6 per cent of the company, would generate just under £8 million sterling for selling 10 per cent of his stake. Mr Peirce would raise just over £5 million sterling for the same proportion of his current 3.8 per cent stake.
November 12th will be the first opportunity since the Parthus flotation in May for the directors and other shareholders to sell shares. They have been restricted from selling by a 180-day lock-in put in place after the flotation. Sellers have agreed to lock in their remaining shareholdings for a further 180 days after the completion of the planned share sale. Other selling shareholders will include investment bankers Goldman Sachs, which currently owns 18.8 per cent of Parthus; Enterprise Ireland, which has 8 per cent; and venture capital firm Kelburn, which owns 7 per cent of the company.
In the projected offer, these shareholders will each sell up to one-third of their holdings. Goldman Sachs' stake is worth about £250 million sterling, so the company would raise just under £82 million if it sells one-third of its stake at current prices. Enterprise Ireland could raise about £35 million sterling from a sale of one-third of its stake. Parthus said yesterday that the share offering is aimed at increasing trading liquidity in the shares, establishing a broader shareholder base and ensuring the orderly expiry of the initial public offering lock-ins. The shares will be issued in ordinary shares and American Depository Shares (ADS), with 10 ordinary shares for every one ADS.
No breakdown between ordinary and ADS shares will be announced until demand levels in the UK and US markets have been assessed. But Parthus is understood to be interested in biasing the offer towards the US market to increase the proportion of US shareholders on its books. The £20.5 million sterling before expenses being raised for the company (at yesterday's closing price) will be used for complementary acquisitions, for research and development and for working capital, Parthus said.
The Dublin-based company floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the US and in London in May. At that time, Parthus raised about $170 million through a placing of 20 to 25 per cent of the company's equity. Shareholders sold 18.7 million shares while the company sold 111.3 million shares. Since May, Parthus shares have traded in a high/low range of 419p to 85p sterling in London and a range of $55 to $17 7/8 in New York.
