Woodside has raised A$1.57 billion (around $1.24 billion U.S. dollars) through an Institutional Entitlement Offer of new shares. The company will use the cash raised to fund the acquisition of Exxon’s stake in the Scarborough gas field, offshore W. Australia, announced last week.
Woodside on Monday said that the Institutional Entitlement Offer closed at 11.00am (AEDT) on Thursday, 15 February 2018, raising gross proceeds of approximately A$1.57 billion at A$27.00 per new share, with over 90% of eligible institutional shareholders electing to take up their entitlements.
This is the first stage of Woodside’s planned equity raising announced on Wednesday, 14 February 2018, when the company said it wanted to raise A$2.5 billion.
Apart from the institutional offer part, Woodside said the retail component of the offer will open on Wednesday, 21 February 2018 and is expected to close at 5pm (AEDT) on Wednesday, 7 March 2018.
Under the retail offer, eligible retail shareholders will be able to subscribe for 1 new share for every 9 Woodside shares held on the record date of 7pm (AEDT) on Monday, 19 February 2018, at the same price as the Institutional Entitlement Offer (A$27.00) to raise approximately A$0.96 billion.
Woodside said that the funding will provide for the acquisition of up to an additional 50% interest in the Scarborough gas field and for general corporate purposes, including funding support for the Scarborough project in Australia and SNE-Phase 1 development in Senegal.
The cash will also be used to progress the development of Browse gas project in Australia to targeted FID.
