Australian BNPL firm Zip to raise about $180 mln to repay debt
Corrects paragraph 6 to say floor price, not issue price
Equity raise via share placement and rights issue
Issue price at 5.3% discount to last close on Tuesday
Co sees FY24 underlying operating profit A$77 mln-A$80 mln
By Archishma Iyer
July 17 (Reuters) -Australia's Zip Co ZIP.AX plans to raise about A$267 million ($179.66 million) in fresh capital to repay its corporate debt early and strengthen the balance sheet, the buy-now-pay-later company said on Wednesday.
Shares of Zip went on a trading halt before the company announced its capital-raise plans.
The company's stock has grown more than double-fold on a year-to-date basis, giving it a current market capitalisation of A$1.82 billion.
About A$217 million will be raised through a share placement, while the rest will be done through a non-underwritten share purchase plan, the company said, adding that the proceeds will also be used to repay the associated exit fee.
"The equity capital raising ... will further strengthen our balance sheet, optimise our capital structure and provide additional flexibility for Zip to deliver on its growth plans," Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Scott said in a statement.
The floor price of A$1.52 apiece is at a 5.3% discount to the stock's last closing price of A$1.61 on Tuesday.
"The capital raising, in our view, makes a lot of sense," analysts from Ord Minnett wrote in a note.
"It gets rid of expensive debt, it saves A$22.5m of interest and the 'exit fee' is now removed – this was a function of the market cap … removing this overhang is a positive."
Separately, the company forecast its fiscal 2024 underlying operating profit to be between A$77 million and A$80 million, versus a loss of A$48 million in fiscal 2023, while reporting a fourth-quarter revenue of A$223.6 million.
"We would expect consensus revenue and earnings forecasts to be improved on the back of the quarterly update and the capital raising," Ord Minnett analysts said.
($1 = 1.4861 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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