SYDNEY: Photon has lodged a draft prospectus for a $100m capital raising after renegotiating 99.7% of its $176m earn-out liabilities.
The marketing services group, which suspended trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) eight weeks ago, will be able to meet its earn-out obligations in September if the capital raising is successful.
The prospectus was lodged late yesterday with the ASX, after the group set itself the deadline amid press speculation and uncertainty about the parlous state of its finances.
Under the revised deals, the owners of companies including BWM, London-based Naked Communications and BMF, will receive 35% of their earn-out payments in cash and 15% in new Photon shares.
The new agreements are tied to Photon's financial performance as a group, rather than the group's previous agreement of tying them to the results of individual businesses.
Photon faced the prospect of going under if had failed to secure new earn-out deals with its agencies, but the company could still yet be forced to sell some of its companies. On June 30, the group owned its banks $271m.
Last night, Photon said it was still negotiating to refinance its debt facilities: "Negotiations with relevant parties for the equity raising and debt refinancing are ongoing and incomplete and there is no certainty that these elements of the recapitalisation will be satisfactorily completed."
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