Bryan, Garnier & Co successfully leads a €53.5 million follow-on offering for Risc Group
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One of the largest follow-on offerings for a high tech company on Euronext since the beginning of the year
PARIS – September 4, 2007 – Bryan, Garnier & Co (“Bryan Garnier”), the independent pan-European investment bank focused on European growth companies, today announced the closing of a €53.5 million capital raising through a rights issue for Risc Group (Euronext: RSC), fully underwritten by Bryan Garnier.
This transaction was led by Bryan Garnier, acting as Sole Lead Manager, Sole Underwriter and Bookrunner. The offering generated strong interest both in the public and institutional investor market. The institutional tranche was more than five times over-subscribed.
This transaction is the second offering underwritten by Bryan Garnier in the past 24 months, after an initial €19.1 million follow-on offering of common stock by the company in August 2006.
With this capital increase, Bryan Garnier strengthens its number one position (according to data provided by Thomson Financials) as lead underwriter of ECM transactions for small & mid-size high tech companies on the Euronext market.
Following the announcement, Gregoire Revenu, Managing Director and head of Corporate Finance at Bryan Garnier stated: “Risc Group has successfully resumed its expansion after implementing a restructuring plan which has streamlined operations, enhanced profitability and bolstered growth in the last 18 months. This capital raising is thus another major step that will provide the company with significant resources to execute its ambitious development strategy in the fast growing managed services sector.”
Loïc Pequignot, CEO of Risc Group stated: “The huge success of the capital raising demonstrated the company’s new ambition and reflects the strong confidence of investors in Risc Group. This operation will give Risc Group the means to reinforce its leadership in Europe and to finance its development in both existing activities and new technologies. The confidence shown by Bryan Garnier in underwriting an offering of this size for Risc, in such adverse capital market conditions is a great illustration of their commitment to support our growth strategy. The success of the placement is a strong reward for all of us.”
About Risc Group
Founded in 1992 and listed on Euronext, Risc Group is a leading provider of managed and professional backup and security services for small and medium-sized companies in Europe. The company operates in France, Belgium, Germany and Spain. It offers organizations a complete set of services within the field of data protection and recovery, including remote automatic backup services, managed antivirus, managed firewalls, managed spam blocking, and managed emails. With more than 26,000 clients, Risc Group achieved over EUR39 million of revenues in 2006/07.
For more information, please contact:
Mani Pillai / Kerstin Voelkel
Penrose Financial + 44 20 7786 4888
Notes to Editors
Over the past 10 years, Bryan, Garnier & Co has become one of the leading placement agents of venture and development capital for European Technology companies.Bryan, Garnier & Co is increasingly active on the European stock markets as a lead underwriter of emerging growth stocks offerings, including the following recent transactions:
– Sole manager of a € 40 million capital increase for Bioalliance (BIO)
– Sole manager of a € 12 million IPO for Orolia (ALORO)
– Lead manager and Book runner of a €100 million capital increase for Transgene (TSG)
– Sole manager of a €12 million secondary placement for Netbooster (ALNBT)
– Sole manager of a €45 million secondary placement for Parrot (PARRO)
– Sole Lead Manager and Book runner of a €66 million capital increase for Sword Group (SWP)
– Sole Placement Agent of a €15 million Euros Alternext IPO for 1855 (AL185)
– Joint Lead Manager and joint Book runner of a €35 million Euros IPO of Innate Pharma (IPH)
– Joint Lead Manager and Book runner of a €31 million Euros IPO of Bioalliance (BIO)
– Sole Manager of a €49 million Euros secondary placement for Sword (SWP)
– Sole manager of a €35 million Euros private placement (PIPE) for Carrere Group (CAR)
– Lead Manager and Sole Book Runner a €35 million Euros follow-on for Transgene (TSG)The most recent M&A transactions include:
– Acquisition of AS Infor by Cegid, Advisor to the Seller
– Acquisition of Influe by Generix, Advisor to the Seller
– Owner Buy Out of Divalto, Advisor to the Seller
– Sale of Plaut Consulting Group to CGI inc (NYSE : GIB), Advisor to Plaut Consulting Group