Sydney, June 29, 2007 AEST (ABN Newswire) - IBA Health Limited (ASX: IBA) - Australia's largest listed eHealth company, today announced today that following the closing of its 2 for 5 renounceable rights issue, acceptances were received for 137,726,782 New Shares. This represents a take-up of over 99% from existing and new shareholders. The 737,933 New Shares representing entitlements of shareholders that were not exercised will be subscribed for by the underwriter, ABN AMRO Rothschild.
The closing of the rights issue follows IBA's successful $54.4 million conditional placement in May which was oversubscribed by a range of domestic and international institutions. Combined, IBA has raised new equity capital of approximately $200 million.
Upon completion of the merger of IBA and iSOFT, these funds will be used to refinance iSOFT's existing bank facilities, which are repayable on change of control, and will provide the merged group with working capital, an appropriate capital structure and a strong balance sheet.
The proposed merger of IBA and iSOFT is a continuation of IBA's international growth strategy and will create one of the world's largest health information technology providers, with an installed base of approximately 13,000 healthcare systems across the UK, Ireland, continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The two companies have complementary footprints and product portfolios, and it is expected that considerable revenue growth opportunities can be created through expanding markets and cross selling a larger portfolio to a broader customer base.
"The completion of the rights issue represents a significant step towards the completion of the merger between IBA and iSOFT. We are very pleased with the strong level of support from our shareholders" said Gary Cohen, Executive Chairman of IBA. "This is a powerful endorsement of IBA's international growth strategy and the proposed merger. The additional issued capital increases the company's liquidity and should encourage further institutional investment."
IBA Health will issue a total 138,464,715 shares through the rights issue, increasing the total number of issued shares to 484,623,038. New shares issued under the rights issue will rank equally with ordinary shares currently on issue. Allotment of new shares will be made on 3 July with dispatch of holding statements to shareholders on 4 July. The New Shares are expected to trade on a normal trading (T+3) basis on the Australian Stock Exchange on 5 July.
End of release
Contact
Gary Cohen
Chairman
IBA Health Limited
Phone: +61 2 8251 6700
Email: gary.cohen@ibahealth.com
Media
Greg King
Communications and Business Development Director
IBA Health Limited
Phone: +61 413 621 111
Email: greg.king@ibahealth.com
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