Navitas completes $100m placement

Global education provider Navitas has completed a $100 million placement to fund the $289 million acquisition of media technology institute SAE Group.

The placement was priced at $3.80 each, a 4.8 per cent discount to the last closing price on December 13 and will result in the issue of 26.3 million new shares.

The placement was oversubscribed by existing and new shareholders.

Morgan Stanley acted as Sole Underwriter and Bookrunner to the placement.

"Together with the shares to be issued to the vendor, a total of 31.3 million new shares, representing approximately 9.1 per cent of the existing issued share capital of the company, will be issued to fund the acquisition," Navitas said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

"We are very pleased with the strong level of support shown for the placement and look forward to welcoming a number of new high quality institutional investors to our register," said Navitas' chairman Harvey Collins.

"The acquisition of SAE is an exciting growth opportunity for Navitas and will provide a key platform for further expansion into key international markets," said Navitas CEO Rod Jones.

"SAE represents a complementary acquisition which we believe will add value to Navitas shareholders," he said.

Navitas announced the takeover of SAE yesterday.

SAE was founded in 1976 and has expanded to become one of the world's largest media technology training institutes, with 47 campuses in 19 countries.

Once combined the business will have over 50,000 students enrolled across 97 campuses.