Bookham announces $23.5 million private placement of common stock

11 Sep 2006

Company intends to use proceeds for "general working capital" purposes.

Bookham, San Jose, Ca, US, has entered into a definitive agreement for the private placement of 8.7 million newly issued shares of common stock at $2.70 per share, and warrants to purchase 2.2 million shares of common stock, with selected institutional investors, for gross proceeds of approximately $23.5 million.

The company says it intends to use the proceeds for general working capital purposes.

The warrants, which have a term of five years and will become exercisable after March 2007, have an exercise price of $4.00 per share. This represents a premium of approximately 26% over the closing price of the company's common stock on August 31, 2006. Cowen & Company, LLC, NY, US, acted as the sole placement agent for this offering.

Certain additional institutional investors will have the right to purchase, on or before September 19, 2006, up to 2.9 million shares of common stock and warrants to purchase up to 724,667 shares of common stock at the same purchase price as the initial investors.

Following an agreement with the investors, the company said it will file a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission covering the resale of the shares of common stock issued to the investors as well as the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants.

About Bookham

Founded in 1988 in the UK, Bookham was the first company in the world to manufacture components that integrated optical processing functions on a silicon chip using high-volume production methods. In 2004, Bookham relocated its base to the US and is now a publicly traded company on NASDAQ. Bookham designs, manufactures and markets optical components and subsystems that enable broadband communications.