Carlsberg bids to bag £3 billion

Carlsberg today unveiled a 30.5 billion kroner (£3.2 billion) rights offer to repay part of the debt from its purchase of Scottish & Newcastle.

There had been doubts whether the Danish beer giant would be able to get the issue away in the current financial turmoil. But the group today said it would press ahead with an issue of 76.3 million new shares at 400 kroner each, a 40% discount to Wednesday's closing price.

The stock will be offered only to existing shareholders, with the offer underwritten by BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, Lehman Brothers and Nordea Bank. Carlsberg will use the funds to repay the equity bridge facility of 28.7 billion kroner and partially repay a term loan facility it had to finance the S&N deal.

"The transformational acquisition of the S&N assets positions us as a truly global player with core strengths in western Europe and leading positions in some of the world's most attractive growth markets," chief executive Joergen Buhl Rasmussen said.

The British brewer accepted a £7.8 billion bid from Carlsberg and Heineken in January.