Hasta La Vista Kiwi... NZ firm begins trading as a public company

Following a successful Initial Public Offering (IPO) that raised NZ$92 million – the trading of shares in Vista Group International will commence today on the NZX Main Board and ASX.

More than twice covered, the offer raised $40 million in new capital which will be used to fund acquisition and development plans, including recent investments in data analytics and campaign management software company, Movio, and Netherlands-based film distribution software company MACCS.

Also a priority is the expansion of Veezi, the Group’s cloud based product for the smaller, independent cinema circuit market.

Vista Group Chairman Kirk Senior says the transition to become a publicly listed company represents an important step in support of a clearly defined strategy to grow and diversify earnings beyond the film exhibition sector and into the broader film industry.

“On behalf of the Board and management team, I’d like to thank all of those investors that have supported the company through the offer – welcome aboard,” he says.

At the issue price of $2.35 per share, and ahead of the start of trading, Vista Group has an indicative market capitalisation of $188 million with a total of 80 million shares on issue. Existing shareholders prior to the offer have retained a 47 per cent stake in the Company.

Founder and Chief Executive Murray Holdaway says that since 1996, the team has focussed on creating an enduring New Zealand software company, which today is a proven and profitable global enterprise.

“Opening up the ownership of the company to staff and investors in support of realising our longer-term ambitions reflects a milestone development for Vista," he says.

"The new capital structure will support our next chapter of growth to become the leading provider of software solutions to the wider film sector, including growing our global share of the large cinema circuit market (20+ screens).

“We have a great deal more growing to do in the exhibition space, not only in developing cinema markets such as China, Brazil, Russia and India, but in mature markets, where the total number of screens continues to grow.

“In the past 18 months, we’ve secured 40 new customers, including the world’s largest cinema exhibitor, Regal Entertainment Group, which operates 575 locations in the United States."

Trading will commence on the NZX Main Board under the ticker code VGL at 11:30am (NZT), and the ASX under the ticker code VGI from 10:30am (AEST) / 12:30pm (NZT).