INDEPENDENT NEWS & Media (IN&M) announced yesterday it has raised €29.3 million through a share placing, which it will use to repay a portion of its outstanding bank debt.
Chief executive Gavin O’Reilly said the proceeds would enable INM to pay down an expensive component of its existing capital structure. This will reduce the group’s debt servicing costs by about €7 million in a full year and, as a result, will immediately enhance earnings.
“The group is committed to continued debt pay-down to create value for shareholders,” Mr O’Reilly said, adding the board was pleased with the interest the placing attracted from new institutional investors as this broadens the group’s shareholder base.
Some 50,546,850 new ordinary shares in the company were placed yesterday at a price of 58 cent, which represented a 3.8 per cent discount on the stock’s closing price on Tuesday on the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE).
Once the placing shares are admitted to listings of the ISE and the London exchange, they will represent 9.09 per cent of the group’s enlarged issued ordinary share capital.
