Brait to raise $541m via convertible bond to fund M&A

September 12, 2015 7:48 AM

Brait, which owns gym chain Virgin Active and Britain's clothing retailer New Look, set the conversion price at a premium of 30 percent above the current price.

Virgin Active's logo is seen outside its entrance in Southgate, south of Johannesburg, April 16, 2015. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

South African investment house Brait SE is to raise 350 million pounds ($541 mln) via a convertible bond to fund acquisitions, it said on Friday, putting its shares on course for their biggest one-day fall in nearly a year.

Shares in the company, which is also listed in Luxembourg, fell 7.3 percent to 130.76 rand, on track for their biggest daily percentage fall since November last year.

The 2020 bonds were oversubscribed and will carry a coupon of 2.75 percent, which will be payable twice a year, Brait said.

The company ditched the private equity business model four years ago by issuing more publicly owned shares. But it has stuck with its strategy of investing in private companies, including British supermarket chain Iceland Foods and South Africa's Premier Foods, the biggest maker of local staples such as maize meal and bread.