Trade Me offer documents lodged

Trade Me offer documents lodged

Trade Me’s parent company Fairfax Media Limited has today announced that the combined investment statement and prospectus in New Zealand and Australia in relation to an initial public offering of Trade Me Group Limited ("Trade Me") has been registered.

Trade Me will issue 134.6 million shares to new investors at a fixed offer price of NZ$2.70 per share. The IPO is fully underwritten by UBS New Zealand Limited and Fairfax Media will retain a shareholding of 66% in Trade Me.

The announcement was made by Fairfax Media via a notice to the ASX this afternoon.

Trade Me will become a stand-alone company, publicly listed on both the NZSX and ASX under the ticker “TME”. Trading in Trade Me shares is expected to begin on 13 December 2011.

The offer to investors is expected to open next week following the Financial Markets Authority's consideration period. The main part of the offer will be to investors via brokers, and to institutions. There will also be some priority offers of shares, including one to more than 28,000 Trade Me members.

David Kirk, chairman of Trade Me, said it was a great “next step” for Trade Me. “The website Sam Morgan started back in 1999 has evolved to become the leading online marketplace and classified advertising business in New Zealand, but more important than that it’s firmly established as a liked and trusted Kiwi brand. This IPO is going to give Trade Me’s community of 2.8 million members an opportunity to own a slice of a website they know and use."

Mr Kirk said that as an independent company Trade Me would also have increased access to capital and more financial flexibility.

Jon Macdonald, CEO of Trade Me, said he was looking forward to leading the new publicly listed Trade Me. “The one thing about this business is that it is constantly changing, and this is another exciting step in Trade Me’s evolution. However, it’s important to point out that the way Trade Me works, and our focus on providing a safe and trusted marketplace for Kiwis to buy and sell will remain the same.”

Other information:

To find out more about the IPO, have a look at the new website over at ipo.trademe.co.nz. From here, you can also download the Investment Statement and Prospectus.

Based on the offer price of NZ$2.70 per share, Trade Me is expected to have a market capitalisation of approximately NZ$1,069 million on listing.

An announcement will be made when the offer opens. This is expected to be next week. Members who qualify for the Trade Me Eligible Member Offer will receive an email from Trade Me within the next 24 hours.

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