APN raises A$160M in institutional component of offer

APN raises A$160M in institutional component of offer with 95% uptake

By Jonathan Underhill

May 13 (BusinessDesk) - APN News & Media has raised $160 million from the institutional component of its entitlement offer, with an uptake of 95 percent and the shortfall hoovered up at a premium.

The Sydney-based owner of NZME in New Zealand, whose media assets include the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB and e-commerce sites such as GrabOne, aims to raise a total of A$180 million in its underwritten one-for-three renounceable entitlement offer at 53 Australian cents a share. It will use the funds to repay some of its debt and, if it proceeds with the demerger of NZME, use some of the money to set up APN and NZME with appropriate stand-alone capital structures.

The remaining A$20 million of the offer is aimed at retail investors and opens on May 18, although trading of the retail entitlements begins on the ASX today on a deferred basis.

For the institutional portion, the shortfall was taken up by existing APN shareholders and others at 65 Australian cents a share, a 23 percent premium to offer prices. The shares last traded at 63 cents before being halted for the capital raising and had dropped 33 percent in the past 12 months.

APN is in talks with Fairfax media about a potential merger of NZME with Fairfax's New Zealand assets to create "a leading New Zealand media business, offering depth of news, sport and entertainment coverage across a diverse mix of channels including print, digital and radio," the two companies said this week. Analysts have 'buy' ratings on both companies and say exiting their New Zealand assets would allow them to better participate in consolidation of the Australian media sector, where media ownership laws are expected to be relaxed next year.

(BusinessDesk)

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