Citic Resources Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed plywood maker, is raising HK$391.5 million via a top-up placement of 270 million existing shares at $1.45 each, according to market sources.
The sources said the shares were placed by China International Trust and Investment Corp (Citic) to institutional investors. Citigroup was the lead underwriter while Citic Capital was the placing agent.
The placing price was at a 10.5 per cent discount to the stock's last closing price of $1.62 on January 19.
The placement was made to maintain the public free float requirement for Citic Resources after its issue of 750.41 million new shares in the company to Citic Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Citic, at HK$1.45 each to purchase the entire issued share capital of Citic Resources Australia and Citic Portland Surety for a total consideration of US$139.5 million.
Upon completion of the acquisition, the number of Citic Resources shares held by the public will fall to 20.37 per cent but would be increased to more than the required 25 per cent after the top-up placement.
Citic Resources Australia's most significant asset is a 22.5 per cent interest in the Portland Aluminium Smelter joint venture, which is 55 per cent owned by Alcoa of Australia and 22.5 per cent by Marubeni Aluminium Australia.
