17th Apr 2015 06:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 250-listed outsourcer Serco Group PLC on Thursday said it has received 94.7% acceptances for its one-for-one rights issue launched last month after the group posted a huge loss on the back of massive provisions taken on onerous contracts.
Serco said in March it would launch the GBP555 million rights issue in order to refinance its existing lending facilities and cut its gross debt pile by GBP450 million. The rights issue emerged after it posted a pretax loss for 2014 of GBP1.35 billion, having booked GBP1.31 billion in impairment charges and writedowns related to problem contracts.
The company said it has received acceptances for 94.7% of the shares, some 520.3 million of the 549.3 million on offer. The shares were issued at 101 pence per share, a 51% discount to its closing price on March 11, the day before the offer was launched. Serco shares closed at 146.7 pence per share on Thursday.
The bookrunners on the deal, Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, will seek to find subscribers for the remaining shares and will take them up themselves should they fail to place them.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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