Fayrewood, the London-listed computer group controlled by Irish entrepreneur Pierce Casey, has reduced its stake in ComputerLinks to 27.75 per cent from 50.1 per cent.
The move increases the freefloat of Munich-based and Frankfurt-listed ComputerLinks to 67.45 per cent from 44.59 per cent. Fayrewood raised £11.1 million (€16.5 million) from the share sale, which formed part of a placing organised yesterday by ComputerLinks. The German group placed 584,752 million new shares, at a price of €14.00 each, to raise €8.2 million before expenses to assist it in the planned acquisition of Scandinavian group Securesoft, announced in May.
To satisfy demand in the placing, Fayrewood sold a further 1.17 million shares to raise £11.1 million. It described the sale as "an important strategic move" for the company.
"This successful sale provides a partial realisation of the company's valuable investment in ComputerLinks . . . The proceeds of the sale will give added strength to Fayrewood's balance sheet and provide us with greater flexibility to seek growth opportunities in our core niche distribution operations," Fayrewood chairman David Kleeman said.
As part of the share sale arrangements, Fayrewood has agreed to a 12-month lock-up period during which it will not sell shares of ComputerLinks without prior written consent from the lead manager of yesterday's placing, Sal Oppenheim.
