Canadian maritime tracking venture exactEarth has postponed its proposed initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) citing challenging conditions in the capital markets.
The announcement comes after the TSX suffered a turbulent week,…
Canadian maritime tracking venture exactEarth has postponed its proposed initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) citing challenging conditions in the capital markets.
The announcement comes after the TSX suffered a turbulent week, falling by 184.84 points to 14,001.37 when it opened on Monday 27 July due to a combination of the huge stock market declines in China and a weakness in the resources sector. It subsequently recovered, ending the week at 14,468.44, but has continued to fluctuate over the past year.
The venture’s shareholders, Com Dev (73%) and Hisdesat (27%), have stated that they are fully committed to exactEarth and its business plan. They added that they will continue to evaluate future public and private funding options to support its growth strategy.
Canaccord Genuity was hired earlier in the year to advise exactEarth on public and private funding options as well as potential merger and acquisition opportunities. The bank was the lead underwriter and arranger for the IPO and will continue to advise the company.
It had been planning to raise approximately C$80m (US$60.8m) from the listing by selling up between 6.7 – eight illion shares at a pricing range of C$10 – C$12 per share. The shares were due to be priced on 27 July with the offer closing on 6 August.
Proceeds would have been used to repay the C$44m (US$35.5m) of debt owed to Com Dev and Hisdesat, with the remainder to help it fund its expansion plans, including new product development and improvements in infrastructure.
The IPO prospectus also stated that post-listing exactEarth planned to pursue a disciplined acquisition strategy and that it has identified a number of opportunities that may be actionable in the short- to medium-term.
The group was spun out of Canadian space hardware manufacturer Com Dev in mid-2009 and uses a constellation of microsatellites in low Earth orbit for maritime tracking using the Satellite Automatic Identification System (S-AIS).
Earlier this year, the company announced a strategic partnership with Harris to develop and operate 58 hosted payloads on Iridium’s forthcoming NEXT constellation. The payloads will broadcast in the maritime VHF frequency band and provide real-time monitoring. exactEarth management said it intends to leverage this capability to further grow the market for S-AIS data services.
Stikeman Elliott has provided legal advice to exactEarth for the IPO, while Gardiner Roberts is representing Com Dev and Borden Ladner Gervais the underwriters.
