Redrow chairman ups stake after fundraising
HOUSEBUILDER Redrow said yesterday that shareholders took up just a quarter of the £80m-worth of new shares it offered them in April, leaving its chairman in control of 40 per cent of the Flintshire-based company.
Shareholders took up just over 12m shares – or 26.3 per cent – leaving the remaining 34m to go to the underwriter Bridgemere Securities, which is ultimately controlled by Steve Morgan, Redrow’s chairman.
This means that Morgan, who also owns Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, now controls 40.4 per cent of the company’s shares.
Redrow raised £19.4m in total through the placing of shares with Bridgemere and £60.2m by issuing three new shares for every 20 existing shares in an open offer, which was fully underwritten.
Morgan, who founded Redrow in 1974, did not have to make a mandatory offer for the firm despite the stake increase due to a provision to waive this obligation.
“There are an increasing number of land opportunities both in London and in the regions and as such we are looking to raise further capital to enable us to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise,” Morgan said when the offer was announced.
Shares fell 1.4 per cent to 119.2p.