Praemium announces placement to raise capital
In an effort to raise $5 million in capital, Praemium Limited (Praemium) has announced that it has completed a placement to professional investors of 50 million fully paid ordinary shares.
According to the announcement made to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), the shares - worth 10 cents per share - were taken up by a number of the company's large shareholders and institutionals, including three Praemium board members.
The company stated that newly-appointed chief executive Michael Ohanessian will also invest in a share of the company. As part of his appointment, Ohanessian was also granted a 5-year term of 1 million options, which will be exercisable between 10 August 2013 and 9 August 2016.
The decision to raise capital also follows the resignation of founder and former chief executive Arthur Naoumidis in early August, who is still involved with the business as a consultant to Ohanessian and the rest of the Praemium board.
The placement was managed by BGF Equities, and is subject to shareholder approval at an annual meeting expected to be held on 17 October, the announcement stated.
"The funds will enable us to execute on our near-term strategy of improving the company's financial performance as we undertake a cost reduction program," Ohanessian said.
"By strengthening our balance sheet, we will be positioned for growth as we invest in sales and marketing to drive revenues of our core portfolio administration service in Australia and our separately managed account services in both Australia and the UK."
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