KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 8): SP Setia Bhd rose as much as 2.3% to settle at its intraday high at noon break after the property developer said it will raise some RM943 million from the placement of new shares in the firm to global institutional investors.
As of 12.30pm SP Setia rose seven sen to RM3.18 with some 980,000 shares traded.
SP Setia said today the book-building process for its new share placement involving 320.7 million shares at RM2.94 each, was completed and the exercise had attracted demand from both domestic and foreign investors
The placement shares represent 15% of the enlarged issued and paid-up share capital of the developer.
Proceeds from the share placement are intended to finance the development of the Battersea Power Station in London and construction of the Qinzhou Industrial Park in China.
According to HwangDBS Vickers Research Sdn Bhd, the exercise will remove the share price overhang in SP Setia and improve the stock's liquidity.
"Proceeds from the placement should come in handy for working capital (land acquisitions, built-then-sell projects in Australia & UK)," HwangDBS wrote in a note today. The research firm has fair value of RM3.11 and “buy” call for the developer.