Mosaic Fashions hf., whose holdings include fashion retailers Oasis, Coast, Karen Millen and Whistles, intends to raise ISK 10 billion in Iceland. Morgunblaðið reports today that Mosaic aims to raise ISK 1.2 billion in a public placement currently underway, selling 3 per cent of the company’s shares at ISK 13.6 per share for an overall valuation of ISK 40 billion.
The public placement follows a private placement in May which raised ISK 3.7 billion for the company. In addition, Mosaic intends to issue bonds for an additional ISK 6 billion, netting the company ISK 10 billion after various fees have been paid.
The largest shareholders of Mosaic are Baugur, with 37 per cent, Kaupthing Bank, with 10 per cent, Mosaic’s CEO Derek Lovelock with 8 per cent and Karen Millen founders Karen Millen and Kevin Stanford with 6.4 per cent each.
Fréttablaðið claims today that the research departments of the Icelandic banks have refrained from covering Mosaic because of “inadequate disclosure” and “poor response” to requests for information. Fréttablaðið also claims that the private placement was substantially oversubscribed.
Kaupthing, Baugur CEO Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson and affiliated parties took Baugur private in 2003 in the wake of an investigation by the Icelandic police into the finances of the then publicly traded Baugur (see Iceland Review, Daily News, June 3).
