The Australian
29 Jul 2008
CASHED-UP Singapore property group CapitaLand will inject $302 million into Australand after the Australian property group announced a surprise rights issue while announcing its half-year results yesterday.
Australand Property Group reported a 79 per cent fall in first-half profit after writing down $34.7 million from some projects due to the downturn in the NSW residential real estate market.
Net profit for the six months to June was $25.55 million, down from $119.6 million a year ago.
Contributing to the profit decline, the company also revalued its investment property assets down by $7.3 million.
To help it through the downturn, it will now raise between $302 million and $557 million in a renounceable one-for-one entitlement offer and use some of the proceeds to pay down debt.
The units are being offered at 60c each -- a 38.5 per cent discount to Friday's closing price of 97.5c. The offer won't be underwritten.
Australand's key security holder, CapitaLand, has committed to take up its full entitlement.
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