NEW Island Printing Holdings, a specialist printer of colour packaging, announced yesterday that its share issue was oversubscribed by 53 times. The issue, which is raising $50 million, attracted subscription cash totalling $2.4 billion. The issue is sponsored by Worldsec Corporate Finance and involves the issue of 50 million shares at $1 each, with dealing due to start on April 19. The company plans to use the $43.5 million net proceeds primarily to build a new factory at Yuen Long. This will take up nearly half of the net proceeds, but $6 million will also be used to finance the extension of a joint-venture factory in Dongguan on the mainland. The company said in its prospectus that demand for high-quality packaging in China was likely to rise quickly. The price-earnings multiple of 6.8 was high compared with other recent issues, which have been below five. The group employs more than 400 people and is one of the largest companies of its type in the territory.
