ROCOM Wireless Offers 3.6 Million Shares In SPO

ROCOM Wireless Limited will tomorrow (24 January) open a subsequent public offer (SPO) of 3.6 million shares priced at NZ$0.50 each. The SPO, which is open until 14 February, is to raise capital to finance the company's purchase of ROCOM Limited.

ROCOM Wireless Limited listed on the NZSE's New Capital Market (NCM) in August 2000. The purchase of ROCOM Limited represents the company's Key Transaction.

ROCOM Wireless Limited is the first NCM company to raise capital through an SPO. Under the exemptions obtained from the Securities Commission, NCM companies can raise capital from the public without the need for a full prospectus. Following the completion of the SPO, ROCOM Wireless Limited will also have the highest public ownership of any NCM-listed company to complete its Key Transaction.

ROCOM Limited has been independently valued by Grant Thornton Chartered Accountants at between NZ$4.6 million and NZ$6.1 million. The purchase, approved by a meeting of shareholders in Auckland on 19 January, is to be made for NZ$4.9 million, at the lower end of the valuation range. The deal will be satisfied through a cash payment of NZ$1.8 million and 6.2 million shares in ROCOM Wireless Limited.

"This is the first milestone in what we expect to be a very big year for the company," says ROCOM's Managing Director Steve Borich. "This transaction will enable us to acquire ROCOM Limited and place us in a strategic position to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the introduction of Telecom New Zealand's new CDMA network in mid-2001."

ROCOM is Telecom's largest accredited dealer of cellular technologies and connections, supplying around 30% of Telecom's top corporate customers, including Lion Nathan, Air New Zealand and Television New Zealand. The company has specialised in the integration of wireless computing and mobile telephony, and has already begun preparing corporate customers for the roll-out of CDMA.

"CDMA will open the door to a wide range of new data-over-mobile applications. To enable ROCOM to play a leading role in the corporate market we have recruited key staff into management, sales and sales-support positions, and implemented training programmes for existing staff in the latest technology and computing advances," says Mr Borich.

In October last year, ROCOM also acquired Mission Control, one of New Zealand's leading developers of wireless computing software applications, leading to the establishment of ROCOM's own Wireless Computing Division.

"ROCOM is set to be at the forefront of the CDMA roll-out, working with our corporate customers to tailor data-over-mobile solutions to maximise the benefit of these applications to their business," says Steve Borich. "As well as providing the cellular handsets and handheld computers, ROCOM teams will be involved in solution development, installation, training and after-sales support."

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