SSE raises £2bn through share placement at premium to market price

LONDON - British energy company SSE PLC has successfully raised approximately £2 billion through a share placement, the company announced Wednesday.

The non-pre-emptive placing consisted of 97,916,637 new ordinary shares issued at 2,050 pence per share, representing a 3.8 percent premium to Tuesday’s closing price of 1,975 pence. The new shares account for approximately 8.8 percent of SSE’s existing issued ordinary share capital prior to the equity issue.

The placement included 97,560,976 shares placed with existing institutional shareholders and other investors, 339,342 shares subscribed by retail investors, and 16,319 shares purchased by the company’s executive management team and certain directors.

Martin Pibworth, Chief Executive of SSE, said in a statement released with the announcement: "We appreciate the very strong level of support behind this equity placing from our investor base, and their clear endorsement of our transformational investment plan announced today."

The company consulted with several major shareholders before proceeding with the equity issue and stated it respected pre-emption principles through the allocation process.

Applications have been made to the Financial Conduct Authority and London Stock Exchange for admission of the new shares to the Equity Shares (Commercial Companies) listing category and to trading on the LSE’s main market. Admission is expected to become effective by 8:00 a.m. on November 14.

The new shares will rank equally with existing ordinary shares, including eligibility for the interim dividend announced by the company on Wednesday.

Morgan Stanley, UBS and Barclays acted as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners for the transaction, with BNP PARIBAS, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities serving as joint bookrunners. Santander and RBC Capital Markets acted as co-bookrunners.

Following the share issuance, SSE’s total number of voting shares in issue will be 1,206,955,266.

The information in this article is based on a company press release statement.

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