Coats Group raises £246m to help fund OrthoLite acquisition

(Sharecast News) - Coats Group said on Thursday that it has successfully raised gross proceeds of approximately £246m through a capital raise aimed at funding its acquisition of OrthoLite Holdings. The FTSE 250 company said the transaction received strong backing from existing shareholders and institutional investors.

A total of 319.6 million new ordinary shares were issued, representing around 20% of Coats' pre-raise issued share capital.

That, the firm said, included 314.8 million shares placed by BNP Paribas and Peel Hunt with institutional investors at 77p per share, a 6.2% discount to the prior day's closing price.

Retail investors subscribed for an additional 3.85 million shares via the RetailBook platform, while directors and senior management purchased a combined 902,595 shares.

The funds would be used to partly finance Coats' previously announced acquisition of OrthoLite, a move described by the company as a strategic expansion into high-growth, high-margin markets.

Coats Group released further details of the acquisition in a separate statement on 16 July.

Admission of the new shares to trading on the London Stock Exchange was expected to take place on 21 July at 0800 BST.

On completion, Coats' total ordinary shares in issue would rise to about 1.92 billion.

At 0918 BST, shares in Coats Group were down 11.26% at 72.85p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.