Orora launches $1.35b equity raise; $450m placement
ASX-listed can and bottle maker Orora launched a $1.345 billion equity raising on Tuesday morning, split across a $450 million institutional placement and an $895 million rights issue.
Orora chair Rob Sindel has greenlit a $2 billion M&A play. AFR
The offer was priced at $2.70 a share and represents a 21.3 per cent discount to the last close and 14.5 per cent discount to the dividend-adjusted theoretical ex-rights price. The rights issue is on a one-for-2.55 basis and structured as a pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer.
Together, that’s 59 per cent of Orora’s shares on issue. Citi and Macquarie Capital are the joint lead managers and have underwritten the raise.
Adding $875 million debt financing, Orora would pay $2.156 billion to buy Saverglass.
It comes after Street Talk revealed on August 27 Orora would tap equity capital markets for more than $1 billion to bankroll a big M&A play.
The target, Saverglass is a France-headquartered premium bottle maker for the likes of the Grey Goose Vodka. It has been around for 126 years and has been owned by private equity giant The Carlyle Group since 2016.
The deal is the biggest equity raising from an ASX-listed company to fund M&A since Atlas Arteria raised $3 billion via a rights issue in September 2022 to buy a majority interest in Chicago Skyway.
Bids for both the rights issue and placement are due at 5pm on Tuesday for Asia Pacific investors, and 5am Wednesday (Sydney time) for rest of the world. The retail leg of the rights issue would run from September 12 to September 25.
An investor briefing is due to start at 10:30am.
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