Sunday June 14, 09:40 PM
UPDATE 1-TomTom to raise funds via share sale - WSJ
NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - Debt-laden TomTom NV , the Dutch maker of popular navigation devices for cars and cell phones, is planning to raise about 430 million euros ($602 million) by selling new shares, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website on Sunday.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the Journal said TomTom (Amsterdam: TOM2.AS - news) would sell a roughly 100 million euro stake to Cyrte Investments BV, a Dutch technology investor, and Janivo Holding BV, an early investor in a predecessor of TomTom.
TomTom will also sell to existing shareholders in a so-called rights issue, according to the people, who told the newspaper the plan will be announced as early as Monday.
The company, which plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt, is saddled with 1.4 billion euros in debt following its 2.9 billion euro purchase of Tele Atlas (Amsterdam: TAAGM.AS - news) in 2007.
Due to slumping demand for its global positioning devices, investors have grown concerned that the company would violate the terms of its loans, the Journal said.
TomTom said it had noticed the report and that it was likely it would communicate to the market later on Sunday. A spokesman did not want to confirm nor deny the report.
(1 euro=$1.40)
(Additional reporting by Aaron Gray-Block (NYSE: HRB - news) in Amsterdam)
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot, editing by Martin Golan, Bernard Orr) Keywords: TOMTOM/
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