Private school group Curro has raised R1.5bn through its rights offer, with 85.36% of shareholders taking up their option.
PSG, which held 55.4% of Curro before the rights offer, was the partial underwriter in the issuance of about 185.8-million shares at R8.07 per share.
PSG has managed to tighten its grip on the group, now holding 59.9%, said Small Talk Daily’s Anthony Clark, adding that it is unsurprising some shareholders stayed away.
Given the billions the market has pumped into Curro over the years, there were concerns that this rights issue was opportunistic and merely a means to prop up the debt-ladened balance sheet from over-aggressive expansion,” said Clark.
Curro has said it intends to use about R1bn to pay down debt, which stood at a net R3.6bn at end-December.
Curro has grown rapidly since listing on the JSE in 2011, from about 12 campuses then to 76 now.
The shares were issued in a ratio of about 45.10 shares for every 100 shares held. PSG’s partial underwriting was subject to a maximum number of shares of about 39.54-million, though about 27-million shares were not taken up.
In morning trade on Monday, Curro’s share was up 0.25% to R8.02, having more than halved so far in 2020
