Ezion

Ezion: remains on trading halt. Further to the US$45.3m 2-yr contract announced yday to provide a liftboat to support a SE Asia based national oil co, Ezion proposed to issue 50m new shares (5% dilution) at an issue price of $1.895/sh (5% discount to last close at $1.995). Net proceeds of ~$93.5m will be used to finance the acq of the above mentioned liftboat. In conjuction with the share issue, the spouse of CEO Chew Thiam Keng will lend 50m shares to expedite the issue. The stock has been garnering research interest. StanChart raises TP to $2.60 from $1.88, reiterates Outperform. Says rerating well supported by a positive outlook and strong order backlog, with good visibility through 2016. Maybank KE maintains at Buy, adjusts TP to $2.21 from $2.26,to account for dilution and incremental earnings arising from the placement. But notes that positives from the placement outweigh dilution as Ezion essentially solves its potential funding problems, while simultaneously acquiring a valuable assets at a deep discount.