Vista shareholders to sell 25.5% of company to investors

Vista shareholders to sell 25.5% of company to institutions, brokers

By Paul McBeth

March 18 (BusinessDesk) - Twenty shareholders in VistaGroup International will sell about a quarter of the company's stock to institutions and retail brokers at a 6.3 percent discount to yesterday's closing price.

Shares of the film software and analytics firm have been halted to allow an underwritten bookbuild run by Macquarie Capital and Macquarie Securities (NZ), which will see about 20.4 million shares sold to investors in an offmarket sale, the company said in a statement. Macquarie paid $5.25 a share in a block trade for the 25.5 percent stake, below yesterday's closing price of $5.60.

Chief executive Murray Holdaway is among those reducing his stake, selling 5.4 million of his 9.4 million shares and director of commercial and legal Brian Cadzow also sold 3.2 million of his 6.5 million shares.

Vista listed in August 2014, raising $92 million, of which $40 million was new capital earmarked to fund acquisitions, development plans, and reduce debt. The shares sold at $2.35 in the initial public offering.

Earlier this month Vista announced a joint venture with China's Beijing Weying Technology Co (WePiao), whose backers include the Wechat/Tencent Group, to help grow its presence in the Chinese film-going market, the fastest-growing in the world.

Vista today said that deal is proceeding, subject to conditions being met, and it will "continue its strategy of investing in high-quality film industry software solutions."

The trading halt will be lifted once the bookbuild is completed or when the market opens on Monday.

(BusinessDesk)

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