Released: 21/10/2008
com:20081021:RnsU2796G
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RNS Number : 2796G
Spiritel PLC
21 October 2008
21 October 2008
SPIRITEL PLC
("Spiritel" or "the Company")
ISSUE OF EQUITY
Penta Capital converts £555,000 of loan facilities into new Ordinary Shares at a
58% premium to the current share price
SpiriTel plc, (AIM:STP), the business communications service provider, announces
that Penta Capital Partners ("Penta"), its funding partner, has converted
£555,000 of its loan facilities into new ordinary shares of 1p each at a price
of 1.5p per share. The conversion price of 1.5p per ordinary share represents a
premium of 54% based on the closing mid-market price of 0.975p on 20 October
2008.
The terms of the conversion of Penta's debt were set out in the announcement of
25 February 2008 and in the circular to shareholders dated 28 April 2008 and
were approved by shareholders at an EGM held on 22 May 2008. As part of the
agreement, Penta waived interest charges on its loan facilities saving SpiriTel
approximately £800,000 in a full year. The Company sought and received a waiver
from the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers of the Rule 9 obligation on Penta to
make a general offer for the Company.
Previously, Penta has converted £2.6m of debt into 237,406,046 ordinary shares
at 1.1p. The agreement allows Penta to convert its remaining debt at a price
that is the higher of 1.5p per share and the most recent placing price, subject
to Penta's aggregate holding not exceeding 49.99% of the issued ordinary share
capital.
As a result of this conversion, the Company has issued 37,000,000 new ordinary
shares of 1p each. Application will be made for the new ordinary shares to be
admitted to trading on the AIM Market. The new shares will rank pari passu with
the existing ordinary shares in the Company and trading of the new shares on AIM
is expected to commence on 27 October 2008.
The total number of shares in issue following this conversion is 627,639,692.
Penta's resulting aggregate holding of ordinary shares is 313,819,845,
representing 49.99% of the enlarged issued ordinary share capital of the
Company. The Company's total indebtedness to Penta now stands at £7.85m, down
from £11.46m at the year end on 30 April 2008.
Commenting on the announcement, Alastair Mills, SpiriTel Chief Executive said;
"This conversion of loan facilities into equity in SpiriTel at a substantial
premium to the share price follows a period of genuine turnaround and progress
for the Company. The move is a significant endorsement of our current strategy
and future prospects. We are delighted with this vote of confidence from
Penta."
For further information please visit www.spiritelplc.com or contact:
SpiriTel plc Tavistock Communications Daniel Stewart & Co.
Alastair Mills Simon Hudson Simon Leathers
Chief Executive James Midmer Stewart Dick
Tel : +44 20 7160 0100 Tel: +44 20 7920 3150 Tel. 020 7776 6550
Notes to Editors
SpiriTel is a fully integrated business communications group which enables its
customers to take advantage of the opportunities created by rapidly changing
telecoms markets as the migration to Internet Protocol (IP) based services
accelerates. The Group is a consolidator of the highly fragmented UK telecoms
reseller market and is building a substantial customer base and scale through
selective acquisitions. We are organised into two divisions, SpiriTel
Technologies - focused on IP networking and wholesale voice services - and
SpiriTel Business, which provides a full range of voice and data services
directly to our Business customers.
SpiriTel offers fixed and mobile voice and data communications solutions
including Voice over IP (VoIP), data networking, telephone systems and ISP
services to a rapidly expanding customer base. We are a leader in the provision
of new, but proven, VoIP solutions that are firmly based on the old-fashioned
service values which run throughout the Group.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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