Feltex prices shares at $1.70 each

Monday 24th May 2004

Feltex Carpets Limited has set the final price of shares in its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at $1.70 per share.

At the final price, Feltex will have a market capitalisation of $254 million making it the largest IPO of a New Zealand company since 1999, and placing it in the top 30 of listed companies.

Based on the final price the shares are projected to provide a gross dividend yield of 9.6% for the year ending 30 June 2005.

Feltex chief executive Sam Magill also projected the company would pay a dividend of 6 cents per share (cps) for the year to June 2004.

The share offer closes on June 2 and Feltex is expected to list on the stock exchange on June 4. Feltex chairman Tim Saunders said he was pleased with the response to the IPO so far.

"The level of retail investor interest in the offer has been excellent and the book build attracted good support from a range of domestic and international institutions and primary market participants", Saunders said.

The float came about because Credit Suisse First Boston Asian Merchant Partners, Feltex's owner of the past seven years, wants to sell its shareholding.

First NZ Capital and Forsyth Barr acted as joint lead managers to the offer. Feltex is one of the two largest manufacturers of carpets in Australasia with annual sales of over $310 million.

The company produces more than 17 million sq m of carpet a year, about 25% of the Australasia market. Feltex Carpets operates six factories in New Zealand and four in Australia and has a 50% stake in Australian carpet retailer Carpet Call.

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