Nanofilm's IPO shares priced at S$2.59, promising market cap of S$1.7b

NANOFILM Technologies, the spin-off company of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), on Friday lodged its final prospectus, offering 77.2 million shares at S$2.59 each for placement in its initial public offering (IPO).

The shares, to be listed on the mainboard, comprise around 73.4 million shares under the international offering and 3.9 million shares under the Singapore public offer, representing approximately 11.7 per cent of Nanofilm's enlarged post-IPO share capital of 658.4 million shares.

Based on its placement price, Nanofilm's market capitalisation will be about S$1.7 billion post-placement. The public offer opens at 6pm on Oct 23 and will close at noon on Wednesday.

Gross proceeds raised from the IPO will be around S$470.1 million. However, only S$190.9 million raised from the issuance of new cornerstone shares will go to the company.

Net proceeds due to the company will be used for the development and building of new machinery and for research and development and engineering in order to enter new end-industries and look into new areas in existing markets. It will also be used for construction, refurbishment and renovation of new and existing production facilities, and general corporate and working-capital purposes.

The company, which specialises in advanced materials and nanoproducts, was founded in 1999 by executive chairman Shi Xu when he was an associate professor at NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

The company's 13 cornerstone investors include indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, Venezio Investments, certain funds advised by Capital Research and Management Company, the Employees Provident Fund Board, Aberdeen Standard Investments (Asia), AIA Investment Management Private and Lion Global Investors.

They have each entered into separate cornerstone agreements with the company or with Dr Shi to subscribe for or purchase an aggregate of around 104 million cornerstone shares at the offer price. Some 27 million shares will be sold by Dr Shi on top of the 77.2 million new shares issued by the company.

Temasek will also become a substantial shareholder in the company following the completion of the offering and the sale of cornerstone shares.

Dr Shi said: "As a home-grown company, we are pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to investors to participate in our future growth journey. We are also heartened by the support and vote of confidence from our cornerstone investors as we continue to expand and strengthen our presence on the global platform."

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