Infobank to raise £130m as it moves to full listing

Infobank, the business to business e-commerce software provider, yesterday took advantage of its lofty stock price to raise £130m to fund the company's future development.

The offer, which will coincide with a move from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to a full listing on the London Stock Exchange. Existing shareholders are cashing in 700,000 shares, including 100,000 held by Graham Sadd, the chief executive - worth more than £2.7m at last night's close.

Joint managers Lehman Brothers and WestLB Panmure have been granted a £24m over-allotment option at the offer price, while Mr Sadd will also grant an over-allotment option of up to 50,000 shares.

"This fundraising represents the next stage in Infobank's development," said Mr Sadd. "The funds will allow us to capitalise on our status as a leading international business-to-business e-commerce software provider by building our worldwide sale and marketing infrastructure as well as to further develop our channel support and service activities."

The price of the offer will be set at least 90 per cent of the closing mid-market quote of Infobank shares on 12 April. Earlier that day, shareholders will vote on the scheme at an extraordinary meeting. Shareholders wishing to apply for new Infobank shares need to register their interest by 10 April. Shareholders with 7.2 per cent of the company's stock have waived their entitlement.

Infobank was one of the biggest winners on the stock market last year, with its shares rocketing from just 84p to 4067p, a 48-fold rise. The stock's dizzy ascent occurred largely in the second half of the year as investors backed Infobank's strategy of providing multi-lingual, multi-currency-capable software to facilitate companies' e-commerce activities.

The move from AIM to the stock exchange's official list will see Infobank, which has a market capitalisation of £1.3bn, enter the FTSE 250 index of mid-sized companies. Analysts said this would facilitate access to a broader range of investors, facilitate future capital raisings and boost the company's ability to make acquisitions.

Last week, Infobank announced that its InTrade software suite would provide electronic trading software to KPMG, Microsoft and Compaq. Yesterday, shares in Infobank closed down 137.5p at 2,762.5p.