Opus shares up over 10% after equity boost annnouncement
Holding company Opus Global on Thursday disclosed a plan to raise net assets by HUF 60-80 billion through the in-kind contribution of stakes in companies owned by the investor Lőrinc Mészáros and Status Energy Private Equity Fund. Opusʼs board wants to wind up the transactions by the end of June.
Opus had net assets of HUF 9.2 billion at the end of June, its latest earnings report shows. The company will issue new shares for the stakes to be subscribed in private placements, national news agency MTI reported.
The shares will be issued at a price of HUF 611, Opusʼs closing stock exchange price on February 13, regardless of when the in-kind contributions take place.
The in-kind contributions include 51% of Mészáros és Mészáros Kft., 51% of R-Kord Kft., 51% of Visonta Projekt Kft., an additional 24% of KALL Ingredients Kft. (raising Opusʼs stake to 30%), 55.05% of Status Power Invest Kft., and 51% of Status Geo Invest Kft.
The stakes in Status Power Invest and Status Geo Invest will give Opus Global indirect stakes of 20% in power plant company Mátrai Erőmű Zrt. and 51% in Geosol Kft., which supplies the Mátra power plant with alternative fuel.
According to preliminary estimates cited by stock market news portal portfolio.hu, shareholdersʼ equity of Opus following the transactions may increase to more than HUF 75 bln. It also notes that the direct stake Lőrinc Mészáros holds in Opus would increase from 23.7% at present (in addition to indirect shares he holds through Konzum Private Equity Fund and Konzum Management Kft.) to a potential 41.4-45.6%. The stake of small shareholders would decrease accordingly, from 27% to 19.3-20.7%, depending on the final value of the equity increase.
Opus noted that the issue of the new shares requires the approval of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB). The timing of the transactions will depend in large part on when the stakes are appraised by "internationally known experts."
With the addition of the assets to its portfolio, Opus will become one of the most important industrial and production companies on the Budapest Stock Exchange, Opusʼs PR agent said in a separate statement.
Mészáros és Mészáros is Lőrinc Mészárosʼs construction company. The business had revenues of HUF 9.2 bln in 2016, public records show. R-Kord, also a construction firm, had revenues of HUF 17.0 bln in 2016.
Visonta is a joint venture of Mészáros és Mészáros and Duna Aszfalt which is building a HUF 30 bln wheat starch plant, Opusʼs PR agent said. The plant, with capacity to process 250,000 tonnes of grain a year, will start test operation in October 2018.
KALL Ingredients inaugurated a HUF 45 bln isoglucose plant in central Hungary last October. Opus already holds a 6% stake in the company.
Trade in the shares of Opus on the Budapest Stock Exchange was suspended from the start of the session on Thursday, pending the extraordinary announcement. Trade in the shares resumed at 2 p.m. At close of trading, Opus shares were up 10.63% at HUF 697.
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