Adelaide Brighton to raise $100m
Adelaide Brighton has announced a $100 million capital raising which will increase its shares on issue by about 10 per cent.
The cement and building products manufacturer’s shares will remain in a trading halt until tomorrow while the company finalises an underwritten $75m - placement to institutional investors.
Retail shareholders will be offered $25m in shares via a share purchase plan, under which each shareholder can subscribe for $10,000 in new shares.
The placement will be made at $1.78 per share - an 11.9 discount to the last traded share price of $2.02.
Managing director Mark Chellew said most capital raisings were in the 10-12 per cent range at the moment so the company thought this was a fair price, considering a dive on Wall Street overnight.
Mr Chellew said the company wanted to have money at hand, should any acquisition opportunities come up.
"We’re very comfortable with our current gearing, however we do take the view that sometime over the next six to 12 months there will be opportunities for accretive acquisitions and we just wanted the extra firepower now so we can act quickly and decisively if something comes up,’’ Mr Chellew said.
Following the placement Adelaide Brighton’s gearing was expected to fall to about 40 per cent, which was at the lower end of the company’s target range of 40-60 per cent.
The company’s current market capitalisation is $1.12bn.
Published under Cement News
