Evolve Education completes $63.5m capital raise

Evolve Education Group has completed the capital raising exercise that was announced on 8 May 2019 raising NZ$63.5 million in the process for a range of uses including paying down debt, supporting their New Zealand turnaround plan and providing funds for their initial phase of investment in Australia.

Having completed the first phase of the transaction by raising NZ$30.5 million from institutional investors on May 13, the next step for the company was to raise the balance of funds, NZ$33.5 million, through a retail entitlement offer targeted at retail investors.

The retail entitlement offer opened on 13 May and closed on 29 May.

Eligible retail shareholders took up 60 per cent of their rights, equal to around $20.1 million of entitlements, leaving approximately $13.4 million of the remaining rights to be offered to institutional investors by way of a book build.

Sources close to the transaction noted that the bookbuild, completed on 31 May, was “materially oversubscribed” with indicative interest for as much as NZ$50 million of entitlements being received.

The final clearing price was NZ$0.10 per share which represented a NZ$0.02 per share premium to the original offer price of NZ$0.08.

Commenting on the completion of the capital raising outgoing Evolve Education Group Chair, Mr Alistair Ryan, noted “The company is heartened by the support from both our institutional and retail shareholders” and went on to state that “This (transaction) is an important milestone for the company, and the culmination of our capital management review.”

With regards to the future, Mr Ryan also pointed out that the completion of the capital raise puts Evolve in a solid position to execute its plans to both turnaround the NZ business and embark on the company’s next phase of growth in Australia.

For more information on the completion of the company’s capital raising please click here.