By PETER GRIFFIN
Christchurch-based Indranet Technologies is taking its vision of a broadband "mesh" network to the Australian market in the hope of raising $A5 million ($NZ6 million) from an offer of five million shares.
But the company may have difficulty convincing potential investors to jump aboard, as it has yet to report any commercial income or contract wins of significance.
Between December 1998 and June 1999, Indranet raised $2.6 million with a share offer in New Zealand.
Subsequent investments last year raised a further $2.2 million.
A second public offer in April this year fell short of its $5 million target, raising only $4.125 million.
But Indranet's local shareholder base of more than 2700 remains confident that the company's much talked-about technology will bring Indranet international recognition.
"The technology is gaining credibility with the people who count. In a couple of years, if this thing comes off, it will be the biggest bonanza New Zealand has ever seen," said one investor who did not want to be named.
A fully subscribed offering in Australia would increase the number of Indranet shares on issue to around 199.5 million.
It is not known if Indranet will enlist the help of a broker on either side of the Tasman to oversee the share offering.
Last time around, the company favoured a high-profile advertising campaign to generate interest in the share offering, which did not attract much attention from brokers.
At the time of the last public offering, Indranet's co-founder and managing director, Dr Louis Arnoux, said the $5 million target was only 20 per cent of what the company required to bring its technology to market over five years.
Dr Arnoux refused to comment to the Herald last night.
Indranet
Indranet takes vision across Tasman to find $A5 million
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