Frutarom Industries' (TASE: FRUT) issue in London is moving forward quickly. For the first time, the company publicly announced in London that it would register for trading on the London Stock Exchange.
Frutarom's management stated that the issue would probably be carried out in the first quarter of 2005. In practice, because the company wants to hold the issue on the basis of its financial report for the third quarter of 2004, British law stipulates that issue must be held by mid-February, implying that the issue will be held with three to four weeks at the most. Frutarom's executives will begin the company's road show among European investors in a few days.
Frutarom president Ori Yehudai again declined today to state how much the company planned to raise in the issue. "Globes" previously reported that Frutarom plans to raise £50 million, but Yehudai refuses to confirm or deny. One thing is already clear, ICC Industries, controlled by chairman John Farber, which owns 50.54% of Frutarom, will make an offer to sell a small number of shares, alongside the issue. Yehudai said ICC was selling shares at the demand of the banks accompanying the issue to increase the offer, but that the company did not want to increase the dilution of its existing shareholders. ICC will therefore sell a small part of its stake in Frutarom, probably about 5% of the company.
Frutarom today confirmed a "Globes" report from six months ago that the underwriters for the issue would be HSBC, UBS, and Morgan Stanley.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 13, 2005