Mar 2010 Financial News

Blue Power sparkles. Offer oversubscribed

Mar 26, 2010

THE offer for shares in soap manufacturers Blue Power Group Limited was oversubscribed by close of the offer, a minute after opening at 9:01am Thursday.

Blue Power invited subscription for up to 22,599,000 ordinary shares under a prospectus dated March 18, 2010 for an amount of $87.9 million at $3.89 per share. However, at the close of the offer, the company, through its lead broker, Mayberry Investments Limited and selling agents JN Fund Managers, received $122 million in subscriptions, $34.1 million in excess of the amount sought.

With 74.6 per cent of the offer or 16,867,770 shares being reserved, the company had 5,731,230 shares on offer at Thursday's opening. Creditors converted $59.9 million of their loans to shares, while Mayberry reserved 948,300 shares in lieu of professional fees for its financial advisory services. Additionally, 257,100 shares were set aside for employees for $1 million owed to them by the company, giving them a 0.46 per cent stake in Blue Power.

Mayberry said in a statement that due to the 'overwhelming response' to the share offer, the allocation will be done on a proportional basis. "All applicants should note that they may receive a smaller number of shares than they have applied for, as Blue Power reserves the right to allocate on a proportional or other basis to be determined in its sole discretion," Mayberry said.

Blue Power Limited, a soap and hardware group, will be the first manufacturing company to list on the Junior Stock Exchange. Blue Power employs 40 persons and has a large share of the laundry cake soap market in Jamaica, while its hardware operations earn revenues of $40 million per month.


Source:
Jamaica Observer
Friday, March 26, 2010

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Blue-power-offer-oversubscribed_7505997