Listed Australian almond producer Select Harvests hopes to generate around A$65m from a new capital raising bid after turning down a lucrative buy-out offer.
The company announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) yesterday that it had secured A$45m in capital through the sale of around 10.7m new shares to existing institutional investors.
A share purchase plan will now be offered to smaller shareholders, with the Melbourne-headquartered firm hoping to raise a further A$20m.
Trading of Select Harvests’ shares was halted last Friday, amid reports of an acquisition offer from the Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company. Select Harvests confirmed an offer of A$5.85 per sharehad been made by Mubadala on 25 September.
News of the capital raising programme sparked considerable interest in the nut producer and processor on the ASX yesterday, with share prices closing out the day at A$5.20 after opening at A$4.20.
Select Harvests told shareholders the extra capital would be used to reduce gearing and maintain balance sheet strength following the A$26.4m acquisition of Jubilee Orchard in South Australia earlier this year.
