Ann: Nearmap successfully completes $70 million capital raising, page-25

"Sometimes, it just isn't worth doing an SPP for a company as it is often the most expensive capital that is raised in a CR due the additional costs/administration (this was explained to me by CFO in a previous company I worked which undertook a number of CRs)."

SPP costs, along with the time involved, are two of the main reasons trotted out by company managers as to why they simply do placements.

SPPs used to be costly, when they involved a great deal of manual and human interaction.

Buy, having been privy to the machinations of many such capital raisings as an industry practitioner, I can assure you that- with technological advancements involving share registries, and the competitiveness in the investment banking arena - the costs of SPPs are very marginal these days. It is really a very automated process today that is scale-able over as many tens of thousands of individual shareholders.

Besides, I have spoken to many CEO's who see it as best practice, and the costs involved are merely a cost of doing the right thing.

And, as shareholders, I believe that exhorting and influencing the managers of our companies to pursue standards of best practice, is part and parcel of being a business owner.