discussion on price movements - redfaces Since the IPO in July,...

discussion on price movements - redfaces Since the IPO in July, total volume of TTS shares traded have been around 50% of total shares on issue.

Some of those shares were probably traded a few times by some traders.

TTS did not do the IPO to raise money. The relatively puny $300 million raised in the IPO sits in the bank a/c and TTS has a debt free balance sheet.

TTS did the IPO to provide a ready market for its shares for the previous beneficiaries and to enhance its prospects for eventual licence renewal.

The lack of shares available on offer at the IPO might have led to "sour grapes" according to a stockbroker (Marcus Padley, who commented about this a few months ago in his newspaper column).

The listing on the ASX enabled previous beneficiaries to sell into the market, at market quoted prices, instead of the previous pre-IPO option of selling to that buyer (affiliated with Sir Ron Brierley).

For many (not all) previous beneficiaries, TTS was their main financial asset. Some decided to sell into the market to diversify assets, or do whatever they want with the money from sale of TTS shares.

This was a good outcome because it provided the liquidity for ASX index inclusion. If no or few beneficiaries sold, there would not have been adequate liquidity.

The majority of trades of TTS over the past few months have occurred within the $3.15 to $3.30 price range. In this price range, TTS looks better as a long term investment than TabCorp and UniTab, based on fundamentals, but that is merely my opinion.

The TTS IPO was $2.90 for retail and $3.10 for instos. Both were heavily oversubscribed due to demand exceeding supply.

The previous IPO of NSW TAB was also slow in gaining price rise in the market, but when it took off, it really took off. Perhaps there might be a sense of deja vu, with TTS, in my play of this game.

Only time will tell.