IQE plc : Completion of Placing to raise £...

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IQE plc

Completion of Placing to raise £16.5 million

Cardiff, UK, 10 January 2013: IQE plc (AIM:IQE, "IQE", the "Company" or the "Group"), the leading global supplier of advanced semiconductor wafer products and services to the semiconductor industry, has successfully placed 56,900,961 new ordinary shares of 1p each ("Placing Shares") at a price of 29 pence per Placing Share raising gross proceeds of £16.5 million.

Further details of the Placing and the Group's acquisition of Kopin Wireless are set out in the announcement released earlier today.

Application has been made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected that admission will take place at 8.00 a.m. on 15 January 2013 ("Admission"). 

The total number of ordinary shares of 1p each ("Ordinary Shares") in issue following the issue of the Placing Shares is 645,116,712, each of which carry voting rights of one vote per Ordinary Share. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury and so the total number of voting rights in the Company is currently 645,116,712.

Following Admission, the above figure of 645,116,712 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify an interest in, or change to an interest in, the share capital of the Company under the Financial Services Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

Drew Nelson, Chief Executive of IQE said:

"We are delighted that both existing and new institutional shareholders have strongly supported the fundraising and the acquisition of Kopin Wireless.

"This transaction will be a key driver of significant earnings and cash generation. It also brings substantial financial and scale benefits and underpins our leading position in the supply of wafers to the global wireless industry."

Enquiries:

Contacts:
IQE plc                                                              [phone]
Drew Nelson     
Phil Rasmussen 
Chris Meadows 

Espirito Santo Investment Bank                           + 44 (0) 20 7456 9191
Richard Crawley/James Staveley/Alastair Maclachlan

Canaccord Genuity                                             + 44 (0) 20 7523 8000
Simon Bridges/Cameron Duncan 

College Hill                                                        [phone]
Adrian Duffield/Kay Larsen        

This Announcement has been issued by, and is the sole responsibility of, the Company.

Execution Noble & Company Limited which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority (the "FSA"), is acting as Nominated Adviser and broker to the Company for the purposes of the AIM Rules for Companies and the AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers in connection with the Placing and Admission and is not acting for, and will not be responsible to, any person other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to customers of Execution Noble & Company Limited or for advising any other person on any transaction or arrangement referred to in this announcement. Execution Noble Limited, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the FSA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to and broker to IQE plc and for no one else in connection with the Placing and is not advising any other person or treating any other person as its customer in relation to or in connection with the Placing and is not advising any other person or treating any other person as its customer in relation to the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Execution Noble Limited or for providing advice in relation to the Placing or any matter referred to in this announcement. Together Execution Noble & Company Limited and Execution Noble Limited carry out their UK investment banking business as Espirito Santo Investment Bank ("BESI").

Canaccord Genuity Limited ("Canaccord"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the FSA, is acting exclusively as financial adviser to and broker to IQE plc and for no one else in connection with the Placing and is not advising any other person or treating any other person as its customer in relation to or in connection with the Placing and is not advising any other person or treating any other person as its customer in relation to the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than the Company for providing the protections afforded to clients of Canaccord or for providing advice in relation to the Placing or any matter referred to in this announcement.

The distribution of this announcement and/or issue of Placing Shares pursuant to the Placing or otherwise in certain jurisdictions outside the United Kingdom may be restricted by law. Persons who seek to participate in the Placing must inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. In particular, this announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for Placing Shares in the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Africa, New Zealand or the Republic of Ireland or any other jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation, publication or distribution is or would be unlawful.

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The owner of this announcement warrants that:
(i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and
(ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the
information contained therein.

Source: IQE plc via Thomson Reuters ONE

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