Ashford W. Meikle, Staff Reporter
Brian George, CEO of Supreme Ventures, explains a point at the announcement of the company's initial public offering at its head offices, LoJ Centre, New Kingston, on Tuesday, December 31. Vice-president for research and investments at NCB Capital Markets, Karlene Bailey, listens intently. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
AFTER MUCH anticipation and postponement of its original listing date, Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) will officially open its initial public offering (IPO) on January 12.
The CEO of Supreme Ventures, Brian George, made the announcement yesterday at a media briefing at the gaming company's corporate head office at the LOJ Centre on Barbados Avenue in New Kingston. Some 124,740,125 shares - representing some 4.73 per cent of the issued share capital of SVL - will be offered to the public at a price of $4.81.
Altogether, some $600 million will be raised from the IPO. However, that money will not find itself on the profit and loss statement of Supreme Ventures. "The stock units offered are being sold by existing shareholders. SVL will therefore not receive any of the proceeds from this offer for sale," said George.
Instead, five directors of the company and the private placement allottees will pocket the proceeds from the public offering. Between them, the five vendors hold a little over 2.5 billion of the issued share capital of the company. The directors, Paul Hoo, Janette Stewart, Ian Levy and Brain George, control the bulk of this block - a little over two billion shares.
COMPANY ON SURE FOOTING
At yesterday's press conference, Mr. George gave his assurance about the company's prospects. While he acknowledged that SVL had been in the red for a number of years, he emphasised that the company, with the $1.85 billion from last July's private placement - was now on a sure footing.
"All of what we have, has happened in less than five years," said the Supreme Venture boss. "For a company that can still be considered a start up company, we recognise that we have taken a lot of initiatives that have resulted in accumulated losses over the period October 2001-October 2004."
He noted that, "One of the benefits of the private placement was [that it] allowed us to do the necessary restructuring. Instead of looking at us as the old Supreme Ventures - a company that has been investing heavily, but these investments come at a certain price to our bottomline - we are now in position of looking at the company in a profitable way."
Highlighting the features of the new Supreme Ventures, he noted the consolidated net profit after tax of $206.19 million in the year ended October 31, 2005 compared to the loss of $252 million in 2004. Revenues grew by 19.72 per cent and there was significant improvement in balance sheet from 2004 to 2005. Total assets grew from $1 billion to $2.5 billion and there was a decrease in total liabilities from $1.21 billion to $791 million as well as elimination of directors' loans and significant reduction of long-term liabilities.
The IPO will close on January 27 with a possible listing on the JSE within 10 days. The lead broker is NCB Capital Markets.
WHO STANDS TO BENEFIT
The $600 millionproceeds of Supreme Venture's IPO will be pocketed by four of its directors and the high net worth individuals who were subscribers in the privateplacement last July.
| Name | Position | Amount |
| Paul Hoo | Director | $204.5 million |
| Janette Stewart | Director | $204.5 million |
| Ian Levy | Director | $72.1 million |
| Brian George | Director | $4.8 million |
Private Placement
Allottees | Shareholders | $113.9 million. |
