London-listed Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf in London, intends to raise £140 mln (EUR 165 mln) in an open offer to repay a loan from shareholders.
London-listed Songbird Estates, the majority owner of Canary Wharf in London, intends to raise £140 mln (EUR 165 mln) in an open offer to repay a loan from shareholders.
The board of Songbird announced on Friday it will issue 109 million new shares at 128 pence per share. This represents a 19% discount to the closing price of 158 pence on 22 September 2010. The open offer is being underwritten by the major shareholders.
The proceeds of the share issue will be used to repay a loan stemming from the £1 bn fundraising carried out at this time last year. The fundraising included a £135 mln facility provided by the majority shareholders to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire an additional 8.45% stake in Canary Wharf and to bolster working capital requirements.
The loan facility was due to mature last week. Songbird had the option to extend it for up to a further 364 days. But the board decided it was better to repay the loan.
'The board believes the open offer...further simplifies the capital structure by the removal of all external borrowings of the Songbird Entities. The underwriting by Qatar Holding, GF Investments, Land Breeze and the MSREF Funds indicates the continuing strong support of key shareholders and reflects commitment to the future prospects of the company,' Canary Wharf said.
