APA Group (ASX:APA) is pleased to announce it has successfully completed the underwritten $675 million ‘pro-rata’ institutional placement (Placement) component of its $750 million equity raising announced on Wednesday, 23 August 2023.1
Proceeds raised under the Placement and the Security Purchase Plan announced on Wednesday, 23 August 2023 (SPP) will be used to partly fund APA's acquisition of Alinta Energy Pilbara (Acquisition).
The Placement was strongly supported by APA’s existing security holders and together with new investors was well oversubscribed at the announced price of $8.50 per new stapled security (Placement Price). The Placement Price represents:
- an 8.2% discount to APA’s closing price of A$9.26 on 22 August 2023; and
- an 8.7% discount to APA’s 5 day VWAP of A$9.31 up to, and including, 22 August 2023.
APA will issue approximately 79 million new securities under the Placement which will rank equally with existing ordinary securities from the date of issue. All eligible institutional security holders who bid for up to their pro-rata share of new securities under the Placement were allocated their full bid, on a best endeavours basis1.
APA CEO and Managing Director Adam Watson said he was very pleased with the support received for the Acquisition and Placement from APA’s existing security holders and a number of new domestic and international institutional investors.
“The success of the Placement provides a strong endorsement that investors share our confidence in APA’s strategy to be the partner of choice and the opportunities in front of us from the Acquisition of Alinta Energy Pilbara. We now look forward to launching the SPP for eligible security holders on Thursday, 31 August 2023,” he said.
“This Acquisition gives us the scale and capability to be the leading provider of energy infrastructure solutions for the remote regions of Australia and is demonstration we are building momentum and executing our strategy.”
Settlement of the Placement is expected to take place on Monday, 28 August 2023, with allotment expected to occur on Tuesday, 29 August 2023.
The trading halt in respect of APA’s securities is expected to be lifted before market open today as a result of the release of this announcement.
Security Purchase Plan
As noted above, in addition to the Placement, APA will undertake a non-underwritten SPP for eligible security holders to raise approximately A$75 million2. Eligible APA security holders, being security holders who had a registered address in Australia or New Zealand on APA’s register at 7.00pm (AEDT) on 22 August 2023, will be invited to subscribe for up to A$30,000 of new securities under the SPP at the lower of the Placement Price, and a 2% discount to the 5-day VWAP of APA’s securities up to, and including, the closing date of the SPP, and free of any brokerage or transaction costs.
Further details of the SPP will be set out in the SPP Booklet, which will be released to the ASX and made available to eligible security holders in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, 31 August 2023.