Champion in $467m placement
CHAMPION Technology is raising $467.5 million in a placement of 100 million shares.
The placement, being arranged by Jardine Fleming, Credit Lyonnais and Schroder Securities, is priced at a 4.6 per cent discount to yesterday's $4.90 closing price.
It represents 19 per cent of the existing issued share capital of the company, which makes telecom products and offers radio paging services.
The controlling shareholder, president and founder Paul Kan Man-lok, will dilute his holding in the company from 48.5 per cent to 40.7 per cent following the transaction.
The company is deeply involved in mainland telecom projects, such as a US$30 million joint venture in Chengdu and the launch of a $20 million Guangzhou paging centre for its Kantone pager.
About $230 million of the sum raised will be spent on the Chengdu project, the rest on other projects in China.
