FRANKFURT, Germany--()--BankM - representative office of biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG ('BankM - biw AG') announces to have successfully closed the sale of blocks of Ultrasonic shares to several institutional investors in Europe. The transactions took place on a road show after the company presentation at the German Equity Forum from 12 to 14 November 2012 in Frankfurt.
The last sale from private equity investors in the amount of EUR 10 million was, at the specific request of the sellers, executed in the form of block trades. The goal was to avoid any negative impact on the share price development and at the same time reorganizing the shareholder base of the company as well as resolving the stock overhang. Earlier this year, a placement of EUR 3 million from pre-IPO shareholders had been executed by BankM - biw AG. The overall amount of the transactions is slightly over EUR 19 million, having started with a EUR 6 million placement from a capital increase at the Safe IPO of Ultrasonic AG, which took place at the end of 2011 on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
'The placement of all shares of the pre-IPO private equity investors should pave the way for a continued positive development of the stock price,' said Thomas Stewens, responsible for communications and strategy at BankM - biw AG. 'Therefore, it made only sense to place all of the private equity shareholders to new investors in a coordinated process, ensuring that the share price development would not be jeopardized by the transaction itself. This transaction also shows that our Safe IPO is an effective means to perform successful IPOs even in a very challenging market environment. The Safe IPO enables the company to establish trust, then gradually expand its investor base and implement additional capital measures. Ultrasonic AG, with its high transparency, outstanding reporting and the innovative concept of the 'option dividend' thus received the opportunity to convince investors in Europe.' After the IPO of Aschaffenburg based online travel agent Travel Viva AG on the Entry Standard in February 2010, BankM - biw AG has executed several Safe IPOs with German and China based companies, ensuring a successful IPO of the company in any market environment. After the respective IPOs, it was possible to execute further capital increases and / or placements, gradually increasing the free float.
Since 2010, BankM - biw AG has taken four companies public in Germany, which have their primary operations in the Chinese domestic market. These are KINGHERO AG, a branded fashion company, Youbisheng Green Paper AG, a manufacturer of packaging paper from up to 100% recycled paper and Ultrasonic AG, a manufacturer of high quality branded shoes as well as Haikui Seafood AG, a processor of fish and seafood.
'We believe those companies from China to be particularly interesting, which supply the growing Chinese middle class with high quality consumer goods and at the same time show superior profitability, enabling them to pay wages for the employees in China, often constituting a multiple of the local minimum wage', states Dr Roger Becker, chief analyst at BankM - biw AG. 'These business models seem to be positioned sustainably well, satisfying a real demand for high quality basic goods such as clothing, shoes, food and packaging paper. In addition, the development of the domestic demand has the full attention of the central Chinese government, supporting a steady growth in consumption. Thus, in the last twelve months, which were characterized by recessive trends in many markets, the domestic demand in China increased by over 14%. In our assessment, the local Chinese manufacturers of high quality products will benefit from this market development disproportionately.'
About Ultrasonic AG:
The Cologne-based company Ultrasonic AG is the German holding company of the Chinese ULTRASONIC Group, an established manufacturer and supplier of high-quality branded urban footwear. With around 1,400 employees the Group operates in three market segments, each of which contributes about a third to the Group's revenue. ULTRASONIC produces sandals and slippers for the upper price segment and is a long-term supplier of shoe soles for leading manufacturers in the booming Chinese sport shoe industry, for example Anta, Xtep and Unisuper. Moreover, the company has successfully established its own 'Urban footwear' collection which is marketed under the ULTRASONIC brand and is specifically designed to meet the needs and taste of China's growing urban middle class. ULTRASONIC's branded urban footwear collection is currently marketed in around 100 Ultrasonic mono-label shops, which achieve selling prices in a range from RMB 400 to RMB 1,200 per pair, equivalent to approx. EUR 50 to EUR 140. Within the last three years ULTRASONIC's business had a compound annual growth rate of more than 34.4 percent. In FY 2011, the company generated total revenues of EUR 119.4 million and achieved a net profit of EUR 24.9 million. For further information about the company visit: www.ultrasonic-ag.de
About BankM - biw AG:
Since 2007, BankM - representative office of biw AG (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) is the partner of small and mid-sized enterprises and specialising in capital market financing with its experienced team. Particularly during the banking and debt crisis more and more corporations trust in the individual services, meanwhile increasing the number of corporate clients to over 70. Unlike Anglo-Saxon style investment banking, BankM - biw AG's philosophy is to provide long-term support for high-growth companies based on the principles of relationship banking. BankM - biw AG specialises in advising and supporting clients seeking to strengthen their equity base to ensure secure and efficient funding for future growth.
BankM's service-portfolio ranges from the wide field of equity financing, market making on the electronic trading platform Xetra ('Designated Sponsoring'), research, corporate bonds and hybrid financing, as well as M&A. BankM - biw AG is a team of professionals with a personal interdisciplinary experience of more than 150 years from over 200 transactions (including nearly 40 IPOs).
Equity-financed FIB Management AG (FIB) is owner of the BankM brand and acts as an tied agent in terms of sec. 2 para. 10 German Banking Act (KWG) in the name of and on account of biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG, so far as they provide services which attribute to the investment and contract broking as well as placement transactions in terms of Sec. 1 para. 1a sentences 2 No. 1, 1c and No. 2 (KWG). Additionally, FIB Management AG is outsourcer for biw Bank für Investments und Wertpapiere AG (outsourcing company) undertaking Designated Sponsoring services under the BankM brand (proprietary trading according to sec. 1 para. 1a sentence 2 No. 4 KWG).