Finnish enterprise resource planning software developer and consultant Oyj Liinos Abp yesterday began trading on the Helsinki stock exchange’s New Market for small cap, high-growth companies. The flotation followed an initial public offering in which the Jyvaskyla-based company sold 3.4 million shares, representing 29.8% of its share capital, for a total of 30.6m euros ($32.9m). The shares were entirely existing ones sold by the company’s founders, explained a spokesperson for one of the investment banks handling the offering, eQ Pankkiiriliike.
Liinos did not issue new shares for the IPO, explained the spokesperson, because the cashflow generated by its Visio ERP package is adequate for its needs. The reason for floating was rather to give the company greater visibility with a view to facilitating future client wins, as well as enabling it to carry out stock-based mergers or acquisitions to speed growth.
The spokesperson said that this could include expansion beyond Finland, probably via specific vertical markets, Liinos had revenue of FIM 42.9m ($7.7m) in 1998.
