Parallax

Parallax Capital Partners' Micro Focus Debuts on London Stock Exchange

Micro Focus Lists in London

Thu 12 May 2005

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Software provider Micro Focus made its debut on London’s main market today after pricing its IPO at 130p per share, well below the indicative range.

In April, the Newbury-based group said it planned to place shares with institutions at between 145p and 185p per share that would have valued the company at £310m using the middle of the range.

In the end, the listing raised just over £66m, valuing the company at almost £260m.

Micro Focus, which supplies corporate clients with products and services that allow them to upgrade their IT sytems without replacing the hardware, began conditional dealing this morning, with unconditional trading due to start on 17 May.

Chief executive Tony Hill said, “We are delighted with the success of the Global Offer in what is currently a challenging marketplace for new issues. The listing will permit us to capitalise on our opportunities for growth and to drive expansion.”

UBS Investment Bank and Goldman Sachs International are acting as Joint Global Co-ordinators of the Global Offer, with JPMorgan Cazenove and ABN AMRO Rothschild as Co-Lead Managers.