Mint Payments Limited (ASX: MNW), a leading non-bank, omni-channel payments provider, is pleased to announce that it has completed a placement to a strategic investor, Vix Investments Limited (Vix). Utilico Investments Limited (LON: UTL) is a listed investment company and a significant shareholder in Vix.
The placement will be made pursuant to s708 (11) of the Corporations Act 2001, to raise AU$4,000,000. Priced at $0.061 per share, the Placement represents a 9% premium to the VWAP over the last two months since Mint entered discussions with Vix.
Vix Investments Limited is a global Fintech investor specialising in the payments sector. Other current and recent Vix portfolio investments in the payments sector locally include the recently ASX listed Touchcorp (ASX: TCH), on-line identity verification experts Vix Verify, mobile recharge and payments provider Fusion Payments, international student payments specialist Cohort Solutions, virtual card payments processor Optal, and transport ticketing / payments solutions provider Vix Technology.
Share Purchase Plan
In addition to the Placement the Company will offer eligible shareholders the right to participate in a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) at the same price as the Placement. The amount raised by the SPP will be capped at AU$1,000,000. The SPP will be subject to the Board’s discretion and scale back may apply to applications under the SPP.
Shareholders on the Company’s register at 7.00pm on Monday 20 July 2015 (Record Date) whose registered address is in Australia or New Zealand will be entitled to participate in the SPP. Further details on the SPP, including the timetable, will be provided to shareholders shortly.
Use of Funds and Outlook
The funds raised by the Placement and the SPP will be used to fund growth opportunities for the Company through the execution of the Company’s omni-channel payments strategy and entry into select Asia-Pacific markets.
Commenting on the placement, Mint CEO Alex Teoh said, "We are delighted to have Vix take a material stake in the business and look forward to leveraging their significant knowledge of the payments market globally, as well as synergies that we have identified with their other portfolio companies. Vix’s experience in the payments sector has already highlighted several growth opportunities for Mint, both in Australia and various South East Asian countries, and we look forward to executing these over the next 24 months”.
Mr Teoh commented further, “It has been a strong 12 months for the Company in terms of performance against our key priorities and we are excited about the year ahead. The value of bringing on board a well-regarded global, strategic Fintech investor like Vix at this stage of the Company’s development is a significant endorsement of the value of the Company’s payments platform and technology”.
“Mint has been working hard to support our existing customers and partners including Bank of New Zealand and MYOB with recent highlights including the successful rollout of our mPOS offering providing the full suite of capabilities, namely Chip and PIN, EFTPOS and Contactless in Australia and across the Tasman. Having invested in our core products over the past two years, our focus is now on accelerating growth in distribution agreements with a particular interest in South East Asia where payments and mobile commerce is quickly expanding and where we have experienced increased interest. This funding round will allow Mint to position itself as a genuine payment solution in a number of regional markets” Mr Teoh concluded.