FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Austrian sensor maker AMS (VI:AMS) completed a 1.75 billion Swiss franc ($1.8 billion) rights issue on Tuesday which it needs to help finance its 4.6 billion euro ($5.1 billion) takeover of German lighting group Osram (DE:OSRn).
AMS said that 62% of the new shares had been sold to investors, meaning that the underwriting banks organising the sale had to take up the remainder. They had managed to sell a this 38% rump within hours, bookrunners on the deal said.
The underwriters had sold the rump shares at the issue price of 9.20 Swiss Francs a share for the rights issue, which was launched just as global equities markets were rocked by fears over the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite a large discount for the new shares, AMS stock slipped below the offer price several times during the subscription period. The new shares are expected to be delivered and start trading on April 3, AMS said.
The rump was sold in an "accelerated bookbuild", where shares are offered within a short time window with little or no marketing, a deal type that has been popular with investors in the first quarter of 2020.
HSBC (L:HSBA) and UBS (S:UBSG) organised the rights issue as global coordinators with the help of Bank of America (N:BAC), Citi (N:C), Commerzbank, (DE:CBKG), Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) Morgan Stanley (N:MS) and Erste Bank (VI:ERST).