[Sydney, AUSTRALIA] LibertyOne has announced its decision to sell more of the remaining businesses in the group, to raise capital for the ailing company.
” LibertyOne does not have sufficient funds to provide the working capital needed to achieve an appropriate long term return for shareholders,” said chief executive officer Marcelle Anderson, in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
“Accordingly, an injection of capital into LibertyOne or into the relevant businesses following a sale is necessary.”
This week saw LibertyOne get rid of 70 percent of Greg Norman Interactive, responsible for the Shark.com site, a move estimated to save AUS $600,000 a year. Greg Norman Interactive has been bought by Norman’s company, Great White Shark Enterprises.
Auction site, uBID and regional portal, Excite, were the first companies to be sold, overseen by KPMG. Satellite Music Australia’s distribution arm and online celebrity management group, as well as extremely profitable Web developer Zivo have been listed also.
Libertyone’s share price has dropped accordingly, the stock price hit a low of 6.6 cents during afternoon trading, the company commented they did not have enough capital “to achieve an appropriate long-term return for shareholders.”
The restructuring of the Internet media group has raised interest among a number of Web developers, including the most likely buyer, U.S. Internet holdings group, Quixel Capital Group.
Qixel Capital Group, comprised of several Internet interests in Asia, generated a profit of US $51 million last year and is understood to be interested in a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Other likely buyers include HT HyperNet, Persona Asia Pacific and uBid, which is due to close on
October 27.
LibertyOne is also in talks over the future of Monet, its joint health venture with Von Neumann.
A decision on the sell-off will be made by October 16.
