Monitise fund raising gets Visa backing

Mobile banking technology firm Monitise is to get support from Visa Europe and Visa International for its recently announced fund raising.

Visa Europe has agreed to subscribe for 45.25m Monitise shares while Visa International Service Association, a subsidiary of Visa, has signed up for 7.64m shares; both agreements are at a subscription price of 28.25p each.

Following the subscriptions, the company intends to issue 28.11m shares to certain institutional investors by way of a placing at a price of 28.25p each.

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On Wednesday Monitise said it intended to raise £24m through the issue of 81m shares, with the proceeds being used to maintain a strong balance sheet and provide head-room for other investment opportunities. The group revealed on Friday that the placing had been over-subscribed.

On completion of the proposed placing (on the basis that it is fully subscribed), Visa Europe's shareholding in Monitise is expected to increase to around 10.2% of the issued share capital of Monitise, while Visa International's stake is expected to remain at 9.4%.

Visa Europe used to be part of Visa Incorporate but was spin off from the Visa Group in 2007. Visa Europe is considered to be a "related party" of Monitise under AIM rules because Peter Ayliffe, the Chief Executive Officer and President of Visa, is also a non-executive director of Monitise.

On Friday the share price rose 7.89% to 30.75p by 13:25.

NR