Avanti gets £70m in share sale
Broadband provider Avanti is preparing to launch a new satellite it says will be able to provide superfast broadband to swathes of Europe and the UK without the need for expensive underground cables.
It then plans to send out a second satellite in 2012 that will connect thousands of people in the Middle East and Africa.
A third satellite bound for the skies over Latin America is slated for a later release.
The firm yesterday completed a £70m share placement which will help to finance a bond used to pay for the European satellite, known as HYLAS 1.
The placing, which represented 23.7 per cent of Avanti’s existing issued ordinary share capital, was carried out by Cenkos Securities and Jefferies International.
Aim-listed Avanti will now eye a move to the main market, which would put it into the FTSE 250.
The directors of the firm, which is working to prevent a six-week delay in the September launch of the satellite, topped up their share holding during the placement.
The firm claims the satellite could solve the “digital divide” in the UK by allowing those in rural areas to connect to fast broadband without massive infrastructure costs.
The firm also announced it is moving its head quarters offshore to take advantage of tax breaks.