Carlsberg To Raise $6.3 Billion In Rights Issue

May 17, 2008 11:56 a.m. EST

Valby, Denmark (AHN) - Nordic beermaker Carlsberg is set to raise $6.3 billion in a stock sale to to pay off loans from its recent acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle Plc's Russian assets.

Officials said Friday that about 76.3 million B shares will be offered to current investors at about 40 percent below the last closing price. The rights issue has been fully underwritten by BNP Paribas, DanskeBank, Lehman Brothers and Nordea Bank.

In a Bloomberg TV interview, CEO Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen maintained that the rights offering was at a ``normal'' discount and elicited ``extremely positive'' feedback from investors.

Marketwatch, citing analysts at Natixis Securities, however said the discount on the offer was deeper than the forecast price of 550 kroner. The dilution in earnings per share will therefore be greater, pointed out Natixis.

In January, Carlsberg and Heineken bought Scottish & Newcastle for $15.2 billion. The deal will give Carlsberg the other 50 percent of Russia's BBH, as well as operations in France, Greece, China and Vietnam.

"The transformational acquisition of the Scottish & Newcastle assets positions us as a truly global player with core strengths in Western Europe and leading positions in some of the world's most attractive growth markets," said CEO Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen in a statement.

Carlsberg added that it will use the proceeds to repay a equity bridge facility loan and partially repay a term loan arranged for the takeover.

Bloomberg said Carlsberg's stock sale is likely the Nordic region's biggest, surpassing Denmark's record stock sale.