Terms out for Healius’ $187m rights issue

afr.com:

Listed pathology business Healius pressed play on a $187 million entitlement offer on Monday afternoon, after preparations for the equity markets trip were revealed by Street Talk before market open. 

Healius CEO Maxine Jaquet. 

Healius had its broker, Barrenjoey, offering shares at $1.20 apiece, which was a 29.3 per cent discount to the theoretical ex-rights price and 34.6 per cent lower than Healius’ last close.

The cash call was structured as a non-renounceable entitlement offer on a one-for-3.65 basis and represented 27.4 per cent of Healius’ shares on issue. Healius is looking to list the freshly issued equity under a separate ticker code, given its suitor, Australian Clinical Labs, still has its scrip-only takeover offer open.

The equity injection was necessitated by Healius’ negotiations with its lenders. Covenants have been adjusted from 3.5-times leverage to 4-times until June 2024, while Healius has also committed to reducing bank facilities from $1 billion to $750 million. The changes have scalped the dividends for this financial year.

Healius’ register includes Perpetual with 13.9 per cent of the register, then Australian Retirement Trust (9.5 per cent), Tanarra Capital (7.8 per cent), Hostplus (6.17 per cent), and Dimensional (6 per cent).