CEO
John Kaestle is quoted as saying,
“We believe that the listing on the London Stock Exchange's AIM, an ideal fit for a rapidly
expanding international technology company, gives us the international
visibility and funding opportunities to deliver attractive returns to our
London AIM shareholders.”
CFO James Thompson is quoted as saying, “HaloSource raised its last three private rounds of financing in or through London so it made sense to list on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. London has a history as the financial center of the universe for water-related technology and projects. The pool of London AIM investors there who are interested in clean water is much bigger than it is in the U.S. While the company has investors in the U.S. who understand what it is doing, clean water isn’t necessarily the flavor of the moment that will get a company on CNBC. We got a very warm reception on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. You have folks who have actually been to India and China as opposed to those who have just seen it on TV, or maybe read about it in The Economist, like you sometimes see here in the U.S.”
CFO James Thompson is quoted as saying, “HaloSource raised its last three private rounds of financing in or through London so it made sense to list on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. London has a history as the financial center of the universe for water-related technology and projects. The pool of London AIM investors there who are interested in clean water is much bigger than it is in the U.S. While the company has investors in the U.S. who understand what it is doing, clean water isn’t necessarily the flavor of the moment that will get a company on CNBC. We got a very warm reception on the London Stock Exchange's AIM. You have folks who have actually been to India and China as opposed to those who have just seen it on TV, or maybe read about it in The Economist, like you sometimes see here in the U.S.”
Overview of IPO Listing on London's AIM
Seattle-based
HaloSource's London AIM IPO raised $80 million ($50m for the Company and $30m for Selling
Shareholders) in October 2010 on the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE’s)
Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the first London Stock Exchange AIM IPO of a U.S. company
since July 2008.
HaloSource
is a clean water and antimicrobial technology company that manufactures
products and out-licenses proprietary technology for the water treatment and antimicrobial
coatings markets. The Company was founded in the 90s with its core
water-cleansing/antimicrobial technologies licensed from Auburn University and
the University of California. The
Company’s main operations are in the U.S. with subsidiaries in the emerging
markets of India and China and a future sales focus on Brazil. As of August 31, 2010, the company had 115
employees; 84 in the United States, 20 in India and 11 in China.
Key
London AIM Listing Metrics
- $50.3m gross was raised on the London Stock Exchange's AIM for the Company, $46.2m net of offering costs, intended to be used for:
- Offering costs on the London Stock Exchange's AIM amounted to 8.1% of the gross capital raised for the Company
- Undertaken on a ‘best efforts’ basis, as opposed to being underwritten
- AIM Nominated Broker commission of 4.5%
- Plus an additional 0.5% at the discretion of the Company
- Corporate finance fee of £125k ($200k)
- Opening market capitalization on London's AIM of $159.3m
- Dilution to existing shareholders of 31.6%
- Free float on London's AIM of 78%
- PE & EBITDA multiples on London's AIM N/A given losses
- Trailing and forward revenue multiples on the London Stock Exchange's AIM of 13.5 and 9.3, respectively
- Share price gain on first day of trading on London's AIM of 20%, currently 11% as of November 1, 2010
Key
Financial Metrics
(in
USD millions)
|
Y/E 12/31/07
|
Y/E 12/31/08
|
Y/E 12/31/09
|
Δ from 2007
|
Δ from 2008
|
Revenue
|
$9.6
|
$10.1
|
$11.8
|
+23%
|
+17%
|
Cost
of Goods Sold
|
4.5
|
5.1
|
6.0
|
+33%
|
+18%
|
Operating
Expenses
|
11.7
|
13.4
|
12.9
|
+10%
|
-4%
|
Other
Expenses and Taxes
|
1.4
|
0.9
|
2.4
|
+71%
|
+167%
|
Loss
from Continuing Ops.
|
8.1
|
9.3
|
9.6
|
+19%
|
+3%
|
Accumulated
Deficit
|
37.3
|
46.0
|
54.9
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
Cash
and Cash Equivalents
|
5.6
|
9.2
|
13.0[3]
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
The
Company generated revenue of $8.7m for the eight months ended August 31, 2010
and expects its revenue to grow by 40% - 50% to the $16.5m - $17.7m range for
the full-year 2010. The Company’s market capitalization on London's AIM was $177.1m as of November 1, 2010, 15.0 and 10.4 times trailing
and forward revenue, respectively.
Shareholder
Base
The
Company had 50.5m shares outstanding prior to the London AIM IPO, issued 23.3m shares in
connection with the London Stock Exchange AIM IPO and currently has 73.8m AIM-listed shares outstanding. The table below details those who held 3% or
more prior to and after the London Stock Exchange AIM IPO along with the collective holdings of the Angel
Investors, Others and London Institutions and the Directors.
Shareholder
|
Pre-IPO
%
|
Post-IPO
%
|
IPO $ Realized
|
London-controlled,
India/China-focused PEG
|
16.45
|
4.30[4]
|
$11.1m
|
U.K./Caribbean
VC
|
15.40
|
4.024
|
10.4
|
U.S.
VC
|
8.41
|
5.754
|
NIL
|
London
Institution
|
7.98
|
5.46
|
NIL
|
European
Strategic Investor
|
6.58
|
NIL
|
7.2
|
U.S.
Strategic Investor
|
5.35
|
3.664
|
NIL
|
Singaporean
PEG
|
4.44
|
3.03
|
NIL
|
Angel
Investors, Others & London Institutions
|
33.39
|
72.25
|
1.5
|
Directors
|
2.00
|
1.534
|
NIL
|
Totals
|
100.00
|
100.00
|
$30.2
|
The
Company was backed by two foreign PEGs, one foreign and one U.S.-based VC, one
foreign and one U.S.-based Strategic Investor, one London Institution and 200
Angel Investors. The London-controlled
PEG and the foreign VC sold down significant portions of their holdings in the London AIM IPO and the
foreign Strategic Investor exited entirely in the London Stock Exchange AIM IPO.
The Angel Investors took some money off the table in the London AIM IPO and the new London Institutions
purchased a combination of existing shares from the Selling Shareholders and
new shares issued by the Company in the London AIM IPO, each ultimately holding less than 3%. The benefit to the Selling Shareholders is
obvious. The benefits to the Company are
a more diversified shareholder base from which to create post-IPO liquidity and
new London AIM Institutions to diversify the of risk future financings on London's AIM.
London AIM Board
of Directors and Corporate Governance
The
Board of Directors consists of two Executive Directors (CEO and CFO) and five
Non-Executive Directors, all with solid resumes and a good blend of
complementary experiences and skill sets.
Companies
listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM are not required to comply with the U.K. Corporate Governance
Code, which is mandatory for companies listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE); however, the
Company intends to comply with its main provisions, where practical. The Company has made a similar commitment to
comply with the Quoted Companies Alliance Guidelines and the Policy and Voting
Guidelines for AIM Companies issued by the National Association of Pension
Funds.
The
Company has established an Audit Committee, a Compensation Committee, a
Nomination Committee and an AIM Compliance and Corporate Governance Committee. Each committee consists of between two and four
members with the only representation from the Executive Directors being the CEO
on the AIM Compliance and Corporate Governance Committee.
London AIM Legal Considerations
While
the Company retained its U.S domicile in the State of Washington, its
constitutional documents were amended to incorporate the most important elements
of English corporate law as follows:
- Pre-emption Rights (i.e. anti-dilution) – Shareholders may participate in, or the Company has to obtain their approval for, the issuance of shares on the London Stock Exchange's AIM for cash of more than 10% of the outstanding shares listed on London's AIM during any 12-month period.
- Notifiable Interests – Shareholders are required to notify the Company of, and the Company is required to announce, holdings at or above the 3% level and whenever a full percentage point is breached in either direction.
- Takeovers – If any party, or parties acting in concert, accumulates a holding of 30% or more, they must make a cash offer to the other holders of London Stock Exchange AIM-listed shares at the highest price they paid for the Company’s shares listed on AIM during the last 12 months.
All
of the above will cease to apply if the Company listed on London's AIM becomes a reporting company
under the U.S. Exchange Act (i.e. migrates its listing to NASDAQ).
Since
the company did not re-domicile into the U.K. or one of its Crown Dependencies,
the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, its shares listed on London's AIM are not eligible for trading
within CREST; the most common electronic system for the holding and transfer of
shares listed on London's AIM in the U.K. As such, a Depository
was appointed and Depository Interests were created which are eligible for
trading with CREST.
Separate
from the above, the Company relied on the safe harbor afforded by Regulation S
of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 so as to not have to file a registration
statement with the U.S. SEC. Shares
subject to Reg. S (generally, those issued in the London Stock Exchange AIM IPO, issued one year before the
London AIM IPO and/or held by affiliates) are not eligible for dematerialization and, as
such, are held and traded in certificated form outside CREST. For this reason, the Company has two trading
lines on London's AIM; however, both represent securities with identical rights.
London AIM Accounting
Considerations
Since
the Company did not re-domicile into a European Economic Area country, which
includes the U.K., they chose to report using U.S. GAAP. While, not required, a summary of the
relevant differences between U.S. GAAP and IFRS was provided.
The
U.K. Member Firm of an international accountancy network acted as Reporting
Accountant while the U.S. Member Firm of that same network audited the 2009
financials. The 2007 and 2008 financials
were audited by a predecessor firm.
Since
the 2009 audited financials became ‘stale’ after six months, unaudited,
six-month stub periods were included for 2008 and 2009 and an unaudited pro
forma statement of net assets was provided to illustrate the effect of the debt
repayment and the net proceeds from the London Stock Exchange AIM IPO on the net assets of the Company.
Other
Given
the nature of the Company’s business, clean water and antimicrobial technology,
experts’ reports on the technology and intellectual property were required.
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