Asciano a step closer to recovery after finalising equity raising scheme and increasing its underwritten issue size to $2.35 billion
Debt-laden Asciano could be a step closer to full recovery after it confirmed today it had completed the allocation of securities under its equity raising scheme and increased the total underwritten issue size from $2 billion to $2.35 billion.
Of the total $2.35 billion, $1.922 billion has been committed by institutional investors including $341 million from the institutional component of the entitlement offer, $231 million from the unconditional placement and $1.35 billion from the conditional placement.
Asciano Chairman Tim Poole says he is “delighted” with the support the company has received for the equity raising and says a number of factors were taken in place when assessing the proposed increase in the size of the issue.
These included the level of demand from investors relative to the number of securities offered in the issue, the impact on the level of debt reduction and resulting gearing for the company, the impact on the range of options for restructuring Asciano’s capital structure following the issue and the impact on the overall cost of capital at the firm.
All proceeds from the capital raising will be used to reduce the Asciano’s net debt which sat at $4.74 billion on May 31, this according to the company will now be reduced to $2.45 billion after equity raising.