Sage Group Limited
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration number 1970/010541/06)
Share code: SGG ISIN: ZAE000006623
NEWS RELEASE
7 July 2003
SAGE GROUP COMPLETES CAPITAL RAISING EXERCISE
Sage Group has completed the R350 million capital raising which will be used to
refinance the Group"s balance sheet and to enhance the Group"s ability to
support its core life assurance and unit trust activities in South Africa.
The R350 million in new capital comprises the R235 million proceeds of the
rights issue of 142,4 million new ordinary shares to Sage Group shareholders at
165c per rights share and R115 million from a specific issue of shares for cash
to the consortium of investors represented by and including AVASA Holdings
Limited (the Avasa Consortium).
Sage Group shareholders subscribed for 74,0m rights shares, representing 52% of
the total number of rights shares offered. The balance of the rights shares
were allocated firstly in satisfying applications for additional shares by Sage
shareholders and thereafter by the issue of new shares to the consortium of
underwriters in proportion to their underwriting commitments as follows:
ABSA - 32,4m shares representing 8,8%
Financial Securities Limited - 31,4m shares representing 8,6%
The AVASA Consortium - 4,6m shares representing 1,2%
of the entire issued share capital of Sage Group.
Following the capital raising, the holdings of Sage Group"s major shareholders
are as follows: ABSA 21,3%, Remgro (through FSL and Sagecor) 21,6%, Mines
Pension Funds 16,5% and the AVASA Consortium 20,2%.
"With the capital raising exercise successfully completed, the Group is
continuing its review of its strategic direction and anticipates reaching
finality by the time of the announcement of the Group"s interim results in
August", comments Garth Griffin, Sage Group Chief Executive. "We anticipate
that changes to the board composition following the capital raising will be
announced in the near future," he adds.
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