Australia’s Macquarie raises A$1.5 billion

By Scott Murdoch and Paulina Duran

HONG KONG/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian investment conglomerate Macquarie Group (OTC:) has priced its shares at A$194 each to raise A$1.5 billion, two people with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters.

The Sydney-based firm launched the deal on Friday to sell up to 7.9 million shares to raise A$1.5 billion as it revealed it had more than doubled its first-half profit https://www.reuters.com/article/macquarie-group-results/australias-macquarie-posts-record-profit-to-step-up-green-investments-idUSKBN2HI2XJ to A$2.04 billion. At A$194, the firm sold 7.73 million shares in the bookbuild to reach its targeted raising figure, one source said.

The sources asked not to be named as the information has not been made public.

Macquarie did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

Shares in Australia’s largest asset manager and the world’s biggest infrastructure investor are to resume trading Monday after trading was halted on the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday when the deal was launched.

Raising A$1.5 billion will take Macquarie’s stack of surplus capital to almost A$10 billion, while the funds it manages have a separate $A27.9 billion in equity “dry powder” to deploy, chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake said on Friday.

The final price was a 1.9% discount to Macquarie’s closing share price on Thursday.

Macquarie said it will also carry out a retail investor share purchase plan to raise an unspecified amount of funds.

Citigroup (NYSE:) upgraded Macquarie’s rating to a buy and increased its target price for the stock by 13% following its first half profit result, according to a note published on the weekend.

The bank also said it would raise its forecasts for Macquarie’s earnings by 17% for 2022 and about 10% for the following two financial periods.

Its asset management arm said on Friday https://www.reuters.com/article/thyssengas-ma-macquarie-idAFL8N2RP6E8 it would buy Germany’s second-largest gas pipeline operator, Thyssengas, from DIF and EDF (PA:) Invest to use the company’s grid network to transport climate-friendly gases.

Macquarie, which had owned Thyssengas between 2011 and 2016, did not specify the price. Sources close to the matter said on Friday the sales price was at the upper end or above the 1 billion-1.2 billion euros mentioned by sources in June.