Pinewood Technologies raises £35.7m to acquire software platform Seez

(Sharecast News) - Pinewood Technologies announced on Friday that it has raised £35.7m through an oversubscribed equity offering, securing strong backing from both new investors and existing shareholders. The London-listed company, formerly known as Pendragon, said the proceeds would be used to acquire Seez, an AI and machine learning-powered automotive software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, and to further invest in its development pipeline.

It said the offering comprised a cash placing to institutional investors, a retail offer to existing shareholders, and direct subscriptions.

A total of 11,325,031 new shares were issued at 315p each, representing a 6.3% discount to Pinewood's closing price on 20 February.

The new shares would account for 13% of the company's pre-issue share capital.

Impel AI, a provider of generative AI solutions for automotive retailing and a long-term partner of Seez, made a strategic investment through the direct subscription, acquiring 378,152 shares.

Seez co-founder and chief product officer Andrew Kabrit subscribed for 151,292 shares, while Pinewood non-executive director Brian Small acquired 6,349 shares.

A further 80,872 shares were taken up by retail investors.

The offering was conducted by Jefferies International and Berenberg as joint global coordinators and bookrunners.

Admission of the new shares to the London Stock Exchange's main market was expected at 0800 GMT on 25 February, subject to conditions including the placing agreement becoming unconditional and admission taking effect.

Following admission, Pinewood's total issued share capital would comprise 98,440,653 ordinary shares.

At 1057 GMT, shares in Pinewood Technologies were up 2.98% at 346p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.