Be Heard Group PLC (LON:BHRD) shares have returned from suspension after the company pulled the trigger on its previously announced acquisition of MMT Limited.
The digital marketing group had agreed to pay £5.1mln initially for web design, user interface and application developer MMT, with up to £15.4mln to follow depending on various targets being met.
Be Heard is currently valued at £11mln on the stock market and this acquisition would constitute a reverse takeover under Aim's rules.
Be Heard said on Friday that it would raise £8.0mln through a placing of 246mln shares at 3.25p a pop. It will also issue 54.8mln new shares to the founders of MMT to satisfy 35% of the total initial consideration, with the balance to be satisfied in cash.
Based on the placing price, the total market capitalisation of the company, as expanded by the share issue, will be £21.1mln when it is reborn on Aim on 10 May – subject to approval by shareholders.
Stockbroker Numis has been given licence to raise an additional £2mln should the demand for the shares be there from institutional and selected investors; the shares will not be available to the general public.
MMT Digital will be Be Heard's second acquisition, following the purchase of Agenda21 in November 2015, adding designing and creating web sites, apps and user experiences to Agenda21's media buying, search engine optimisation and analytics capabilities.
“Bringing MMT Digital into Be Heard beside Agenda21 will create opportunities to exploit the synergies between the two businesses, helping brands build the best digital experiences while maximising reach and engagement among key customer target groups,” Be Heard told investors.
MMT Digital is profitable and achieved an underlying profit before taxation of £1.35mln in the year to March 2015.
“Their skills and capabilities will become an integral part of our client offering,” said Peter Scott, executive chairman of Be Heard,
“"Beyond this we have a strong pipeline of potential investment opportunities as we look to build out the group's capabilities and capacity across the UK, US and Europe," Scott added.
The strong support from the City for the share issue was an endorsement of the company's strategy.