Hot stock: iFast down 6.9% after pricing private placement at S$7.50 per share

SHARES of iFast Corporation fell in early trade on Tuesday (Jan 11), after the company said it had priced its private placement - used to fund its acquisition of BFC Bank - at S$7.50 per share.

Shares of the wealth management platform reached a low of S$7.31 as at 9.06 am, down S$0.54 or 6.9 per cent, with 498,100 shares changing hands.

No married deals were recorded, according to ShareInvestor data.

As at 9.56 am, its shares have eased slightly to S$7.52, down S$0.33 or 4.2 per cent, with 1.1 million shares changing hands.

At S$7.31, the price is down 6.6 per cent, or S$0.52, from iFast's placement-adjusted price of S$7.83 per share.

The company was issuing 14 million shares at S$7.50 each. Although priced at the top of its price range, the issue price represented a discount of 4.5 per cent to iFast's last closing price of S$7.85 on Jan 7, and a discount of 7.4 per cent to the counter's volume weighted average price of S$8.10 on Jan 7.

The Business Times initially reported that iFast would issue some 10 million to 10.3 million new shares at an indicative price range from S$7.30 to S$7.50 per share.

The company had called for a trading halt on Jan 10, pending the release of an announcement, before requesting it be lifted on Jan 11.

The placement will be used to fund the proposed acquisition of a majority stake in BFC Bank, of which the company said would help accelerate the growth of its overall wealth management business.

Some S$73.4 million of the gross proceeds will be used for the acquisition, while S$2.4 million will be used to pay fees related to the placement.

The balance will be used at its discretion for other purposes, including, without limitation, for general corporate and working capital purposes, the company said.

READ MORE:

• iFast prices private placement at top end of range; raises S$105m
• BT Explains: What is BFC Bank and why is iFast buying it?