Tallink Grupp has today announced to the stock exchange the intention to increase the company’s share capital by up to EUR 31.5 million and the intention to conduct a public offering of new shares. The intended subscription period of the new shares is intended to be 18 August 2021 (including) – 01 September 2021 (including) and the company intends to offer up to 66,988,204 new ordinary shares.
In case of oversubscription, the company may increase the number of shares offered by 10%, i.e. up to 73,687,024 shares, as a result of which the company’s share capital would be increased by up to EUR 34.6 million.
The intended issue price per one new share is 0.47 euro per one share, which corresponds to the accounting value of the share, i.e. there is no issue premium.
The new shares shall upon due issue rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares of the Company and will grant shareholders similar rights. The new shares shall grant the shareholders the right to dividends for the financial year started on 01.01.2021 and the subsequent financial years.
The existing shareholders of the company shall have the pre-emptive right to subscribe for the new shares in accordance with the provisions of the Commercial Code exercisable during the same subscription period referred to above. The list of the shareholders entitled to exercise the pre-emptive right to subscribe for the new shares shall be fixed at the end of the business hours of Nasdaq Central Depositary of Shares (Nasdaq CSD) on 17 August 2021 (the record date).
AS Infortar, the largest shareholder of the company, holding approximately 39% of all the shares of Tallink Grupp, has issued a subscription guarantee to the company under which it undertakes, unconditionally and irrevocably, to subscribe for the new shares (if offered publicly as described above) in the total value of up to EUR 15 million.
Commenting on the intention of the public offering of shares, Tallink Grupp’s CEO Paavo Nõgene said: „In 2020, as the COVID crisis broke out, we had to react and act fast in order to secure the stability and sustainability of the company and, at that time, we made the decision to initially focus on finding quick solutions with our good existing financial partners and our home markets’ governments. We are grateful to both our partner banks as well as our authorities and governments for the support given and their continued trust in us during these challenging times.
„I am pleased that, in addition to the support from our partners and states, the faith in us has also significantly increased among our investors, the number of whom has more than doubled during the crisis and totals more than 28 700 at present, including 7 000 FDR holders in Finland. This figure and faith in us tells us that our shareholders support and understand the decisions made during this unprecedented year and believe they were the right course of action.
„With the intended increase of share capital and public offering of shares we would now like to balance the steps taken so far with including our shareholders more and to offer all our good current and future shareholders also the opportunity to contribute to securing the future of our company.“
The company intends to conduct a public offering of the new shares simultaneously in Estonia and Finland (in Finland in the form of the Finnish depositary receipts, FDRs) and Tallink intends to apply for the listing and admission to trading of the new shares in the main lists of the Nasdaq Tallinn Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange (in the latter in the form of the Finnish depositary receipts, FDRs).
Conducting the public offering is subject to the approval of a public offering and listing prospectus by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority, the proceedings of which are currently pending. The public offering is conducted in partnership with Swedbank in Estonia and digital investment platform Nordnet in Finland.
AS Tallink Grupp is one of the leading providers of passenger transport and cargo transport services in the northern part of the Baltic Sea region. The company owns 15 vessels and operates several ferry routes under the brand names of Tallink and Silja Line. AS Tallink Grupp employs around 4,000 people in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Russia and Germany. The shares of Tallink Grupp are listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Helsinki Stock Exchange.