Part A:

The last few years have been difficult economically but the owners of Johnsons P/L, a medium-sized manufacturer of quality dining furniture is keen to grow the business. They have seen an increase in demand for their products from overseas and feel that they will need to increase their operation in order to continue to meet this demand. They are currently looking at a number of options to finance this expansion such as through debt and through equity raising (meaning they will need to "go public"). They have determined that they need to raise $60 million.

Giving consideration to the various options, you have been requested to advise the owners of Johnsons what the various options are, outlining the positives and negatives of each.

Required: write a report (should be extensive) to the owners detailing ALL the different options and considerations that you feel the owners should consider raising the $60 million.

Part B

Regardless of the advice you have given (Part A), the owners have decided to go "public" and issue an ‘IPO" They issue 30 million shares ($2.00), of which the payment on application is to $0.80 per share (closes 18th April 2013), $0.50 four weeks after allocation (allocation is 13th May 2013) and the remaining amount to be paid on 30th July 2013 (the call will be made on 30th June). The IPO attracts requests for 30.4 million shares. In this case, it exceeds the allowable number of shares and the directors decide to apply the "first-come, first-served" approach and return the excess back to the unlucky applicants

Required: You are to journalise the events (including dates and notations). You should assume that all monies were received on 18th April (applications). What other option did the directors have with the excess demand, returning the excess?