STJ advises Zouk Capital on its SEK187m ABB
2021
We are pleased to report that STJ Advisors advised Zouk Capital (“Zouk”), acting on behalf of certain of its limited partners, on its placement of shares in Readly International AB (“Readly”), European category leader for digital magazines, via an Accelerated Bookbuild (“ABB”) offering. Zouk itself did not sell any shares as part of this transaction. This represents our third mandate as advisors to Zouk having advised them on the Readly IPO in September 2020 as well as the dual-track process for iZettle (sold to Paypal for $2.2bn) in 2018.
The transaction raised SEK187m (€18.5m) via the sale of c. 3.4 million ordinary shares, representing c. 9.1% of the company’s ordinary share capital and 36 days’ trading volume.
As background to the transaction, Zouk Capital had distributed c. 7.1m shares in Readly to its limited partners. A number of limited partners requested that Zouk Capital explores the conditions for a placement of shares within a tight window. Timing of the transaction came 3 weeks ahead of Q1 results.
Potential investors were wall-crossed over 2 days, following which the book was covered 10 minutes after launch. The final placement price of SKE55 represents a discount of 8% to the 1-week VWAP, with a desire to maximise size consistent with a positive aftermarket as well as a higher quality share register. The shares traded within a stable range of SEK 57-58, closing 3.8% above the placement price, on the first day following the placing.
STJ provided critical advice to Zouk on the offering structure and tactics, notably ensuring the process maintained the timing and sizing flexibility required to achieve optimal transaction proceeds.
