STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 4, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Board of Directors of Observer AB (publ) has on November 3, 2005 decided to increase the company's share capital through a directed new share issue of 4 million new shares. The new share issue was announced on November 1. The shares are subscribed for by Carnegie Investment Bank AB for further distribution to a limited number of institutional investors in Sweden and abroad. The decision was based on the authorization which the Board of Directors obtained at the AGM held on April 28, 2005.
The new share issue will increase the share capital with SEK 6 million to SEK 111,291,977 and the number of shares by 4 million to 74,194,651 shares. The subscription price was SEK 27 corresponding to approximately 97.5 per cent of the volume weighted average share price for the Observer share on November 3, 2005.
The newly issued shares correspond to approximately 5.4 per cent of the shares and votes in Observer after the new share issue. In total the company receives, before costs, SEK 108 million through this new share issue.
The reason for the new share issue and deviation from the shareholders pre-emptive right is to finance part of the acquisition of the broadcast monitoring company Multivision and to keep a high financial readiness for further expansion. The acquisition of Multivision was announced on November 1, 2005. Observer AB (publ)
Observer is the world's leading company in media monitoring and communication evaluation. Observer's services enable the clients to identify relevant target groups, distribute information, monitor their coverage and evaluate their communication.
Observer AB is quoted on the Attract 40 section of Stockholmsborsen's O-list and has approximately 22,000 shareholders. The company has around 2,600 employees and a turnover of slightly over SEK 1.6 billion in 2004. Observer operates in the US, UK, Sweden, Canada, Germany, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
http://wpy.waymaker.net/client/waymaker1/WOLReleaseFile.aspx?id=148512&fn=wkr0001.pdf