SVG Capital Gets 53% Rights Inssue Acceptance

LONDON (Reuters) – London-listed private equity company SVG Capital Plc said on Monday that just 53.2 percent of eligible shareholders had accepted the company’s one-for-one rights issue offer.

SVG announced in December plans to raise up to 209 million pounds as it looked to boost its cash position to meet future capital calls from European private equity firm Permira’s fourth fund, in which it is the largest investor.

Its separate private placing and rights issue were 80 percent underwritten.

SVG said bookrunner JP Morgan Cazenove had procured sub-underwriting commitments for an additional 26,020,068 shares — a further 18.7 percent — taking rights issue proceeds to date to 100 million pounds ($142.6 million), and total capital raised to 170 million.

It said JP Morgan Cazenove will now seek to procure subscribers for the remaining 39,069,901 shares — or 28 percent of eligible shares — in the hope of raising a further 39 million pounds.

An SVG spokesman declined to comment on whether it expected to get any take up on the remaining rights issue shares.

By 1241 GMT, SVG shares were down 7.3 percent at 77.25 pence.

SVG received irrevocable undertakings from 48 percent of shareholders, but only a handful more investors agreed to take up their shares as the share price dipped below the rights issue price of 100 pence on Dec. 22 and has only once edged above it since.

Meanwhile, Coller Capital, which specialises in buying second-hand assets from other private equity investors, acquired a 23.9 percent stake in SVG via the private placing, which will be diluted to between 14 percent and 19 percent as a result of the rights issue. ($1=.7014 pounds)

(Reporting by Simon Meads; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Andrew Macdonald)