Fresh off the back of buying printing group Ovato out of administration, ASX-listed printing business IVE Group has put a $30 million cash call to its investors.

Term sheets sent to fund managers on Monday morning said IVE was looking to raise $18 million via a placement, $10.1 million in a selldown and about $2 million via a share purchase plan.

Shaw and Partners was the sole lead manager on the $18 million placement, which fell under IVE’s existing share placement capacity and was priced at $2.25 a share, a 5.5 per cent discount to the last close.

Potential investors were told IVE would use the proceeds for balance sheet capacity including for organic growth and for further bolt-on acquisition (for example in packaging).

Bids into the placement were due 1pm.

IVE had a $341.6 million market capitalisation before the raise. The raise comes after the IVE on Friday said it had completed an acquisition of Ovato’s printing and finishing assets for $16 million.

The company’s guidance is for $22 million in integration and capital expenditure costs over the next 18 months, taking the Ovato assets’ total acquisition cost to $38 million.

IVE said once integrated, the acquisition would add $160 million annual revenue which is a 21 per cent uplift to IVE’s $759 million revenue for the 2022 financial year.

Article source: AFR, 19 September 2022