Monitise says placing is on the cards

Mobile banking technology firm Monitise has admitted it is in discussion to raise up 100m pounds.

The company said it was talking to Canaccord Genuity and certain institutional and strategic investors "to take advantage of significant opportunities represented by mobile banking, payments and commerce".

Proceeds from the proposed placing would be used to fund new Mobile Money products for financial institutions and payments companies, the firm said, particularly in terms of mobile commerce capabilities.

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The announcement was forced by press speculation into Monitise's plans to raise money.

Chief Executive Alastair Lukies said the business was seeing enormous demand for Mobile Money services.

"The value of payments and transfers alone handled by our commercially established technology platform is now surpassing $25bn on an annualised basis, compared with around $1bn a year ago," he said.

"Proceeds from our proposed capital raising will be used to rapidly scale our business and enhance our Mobile commerce capabilities.

"With new partnerships and collaborations involving our technology platform, we intend to fully execute on the opportunity of creating value for our partners, customers and shareholders alike," he added.

Monitise also said an application to move from AIM to the London Stock Exchange's main market was under consideration for 2013.

Investors sold out of the stock following the announcement, pushing the share price down 5.2% by 11:00.