The reverse listing of Western Australian IT provider Cirrus Networks has been approved by the shareholders of inactive public mining company Liberty Resources.
At a meeting on Friday, Liberty's shareholders voted to fully acquire Cirrus Networks, change the company name to Cirrus Networks Holdings Pty Ltd, and bring in four new directors from the IT business.
Cirrus Networks is a Perth technology provider that has big-name customers such as Western Australia Police, Argyle Diamonds, Roy Hill Iron Ore and LandCorp on its books. The company counts Apple, Dell, iiNet, Microsoft, NetApp, NextDC, Symantec and VMware among its vendors.
The reverse listing had been in the pipeline since late last year, with Liberty Resources revealed as the vessel in October. Cirrus then recruited the two co-founders of former CRN Fast50 reseller L7 Solutions, Andrew Milner and Matthew Sullivan, to its board for their mergers and public float know-how.
Milner, Sullivan, Cirrus founder Frank Richmond, and Cirrus corporate advisor Daniel Rohr are the new faces on Liberty Resources' board. Current Liberty managing director Andrew Haythorpe and board member Charles Thomas step down to make way for the new regime.
Haythorpe blamed the state government for Liberty's exit from the mining sector and into the world of technology.
"Action had to be taken, particularly after the failure by the then Queensland government to finalise its policy on underground coal gasification, nullifying Liberty's proposed coal to urea project in that state," said Haythorpe.
Cirrus had $5.9 million in revenue for the financial year ending June 2014, and must get up to $12 million if the company's owners are to realise the full potential of the sale.
To fund Cirrus' future growth, Liberty has launched a capital raising issue of 100 million shares, worth $3 million, with allowances for up to another $2 million of oversubscription. That offer is due to close 5 June.
"The demand from the prospectus issue is overwhelming, and on current indications the offer is already 100 percent oversubscribed. It may well be in the interest of shareholders to close the offer much sooner than the 5 June target date." said Haythorpe.
"We will provide clarification on the position [this] week once the paperwork has been finalised. The contrast between support for exploration and support for a high growth IT business could not be more extreme."
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