DragonWave, a provider of high capacity wireless Ethernet equipment, has simultaneously listed its shares on AIM and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
DragonWave, a provider of high capacity wireless Ethernet equipment, has simultaneously listed its shares on AIM and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The company raised £13.3 million (Cdn$30 million) after its shares were valued at 175p (Cdn$3.95) each. The process was managed by nominated adviser and broker Canaccord Adams.
The listings have given DragonWave a market capitalisation of some £41.9 million (Cdn$94.6 million).
DragonWave’s chief executive, Peter Allen, said the company received a strong reception from investors.
“DragonWave targets the global wireless communications service provider market and our products provide a solution to the current bottleneck for transmission of voice, video and other data that affects the efficiency of the backhaul portion of the telecommunications network.”
DragonWave was advised on the legal issues of the IPO on AIM by Stikeman Elliott, led by Jeffrey Keey in London, while Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP handled the TSX listing.
Stikeman Elliott’s team included Mark Pindera in London with its Ottawa office, headed by Kim Alexander-Cook, responsible for the legal due diligence and verification exercise.
Keey said this transaction was a continuation of work undertaken as part of a previous proposal for an AIM only listing of a new holding company for DragonWave, which would have had an exchangeable share structure.
“Dual TSX and AIM listings, on which Stikeman Elliott has acted on a number of occasions in the past 12 months, are now the preferred route for AIM admission for Canadian companies who cannot use the ‘mutual fund route’,” he added. “The complexity of exchangeable share structures appears to make them unsuitable for AIM listings. However, recently announced changes to Canadian tax law will, once implemented, permit Canadian companies to list on AIM without in practice the need for a TSX listing.”
DragonWave’s Canadian legal adviser was Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP, led by partner Tom Houston and partner Andrea Johnson with Jamie Hollingworth in Ottawa.
Houston and Johnson were assisted by securities and tax specialists in the firm’s Toronto and Montreal offices.
Its Montreal office also provided a French translation of the preliminary prospectus so the company’s shares could be offered in Quebec.
“We have acted for DragonWave since incorporation in 2000,” Houston said. “We were very pleased to be part of this very exciting and complex transaction.”
DragonWave was founded in 2000 to design, develop and sell proprietary, carrier grade microwave radio frequency networking equipment for the transmission of broadband voice, video and other data. The company is based in Ontario, Canada and its products have been sold to companies in more than 25 countries.
