The announcement today suggests that the entire retail offering...

The announcement today suggests that the entire retail offering was taken up ($25 million), which is a positive endorsement of the company's acquisitions.

The surprise is that the 12 February announcement states: "Paragon Care Limited (ASX: PGC) (Paragon) is pleased to announce that it has successfully completed the institutional component of the fully underwritten accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer (Institutional Entitlement Offer) and institutional placement (Placement) announced on 8 February 2018, raising approximately $44.8 million."

But today's announcement states: "Together with Shares issued under the institutional component of the Entitlement Offer, the total amount raised under the Entitlement Offer will be approximately $43.2 million."

This implies that the $44.8 million stated in the 12Feb announcement includes the underwriter's obligation, whereas today "total" excludes the underwriter's obligation, which would therefore be considerable. Alternatively, there is a mistake somewhere in one of the announcements.

The relatively low insto uptake isn't unusual given Paragon's small size (not even on the ASX300) and lack of history (much of the firm is recent acquisitions, so difficult to predict future and integration issues).