Methven To List - Offer Fully Subscribed

Monday 29 November 2004
30 November 2004

Methven To List - Offer Fully Subscribed

Tap and showerware business Methven will list on the NZSX market tomorrow after its public offering closed fully subscribed on Friday.

Methven chairman Richard Cutfield, also an executive director of management buyout (MBO) specialists Pencarrow Private Equity, said he was pleased with the strong market interest in the offer.

“Over the past three weeks we’ve been encouraged by the positive response from both retail and institutional investors as we have gone about introducing Methven to the market,” said Mr Cutfield.

“It’s been particularly gratifying to see the solid support from plumbers who have been valued supporters of the company in the past. The plumbers’ priority pool of 1 million shares was oversubscribed but Methven was able to allocate some additional shares to this pool to minimise scaling back of plumber applications.”

The offer was for 25.3 million new and existing fully paid ordinary shares at an issue price of $1.43 per share.

“We’re looking forward to the listing this week and returning all attention to the business, ensuring Methven performs strongly for its new shareholder base.”

AMP Capital Investors head of private capital, Murray Gribben, said he was delighted with the way the three-week offer had gone.

“The decision to float Methven on the NZSX market really gives us the best of both worlds,” said Mr Gribben.

“It gives us liquidity to return to our investors while also providing very solid on-going exposure to what we believe is a great company. This is a textbook result from our investment almost four years ago.”

Methven senior management and AMP Capital partnered in the Pencarrow Private Equity facilitated (MBO) of Methven Limited in 2001. Since this time the company has committed significant resource to building its design capability, upgrading its manufacturing and sourcing capabilities and establishing a strong Australian platform for growth.

ENDS

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