Discovery bookbuild to raise as much as $132 million

Discovery Ltd. said it’s going to place new shares in an accelerated bookbuild to raise as much as R1.85 billion ($132 million) to finance a number of acquisitions from FirstRand Ltd.

Rand Merchant Insurance Holdings Ltd. intends to apply for as much as R464 million of the shares and certain directors of Discovery, including chief executive officer Adrian Gore, will subscribe for a total of R240 million of the shares, the Johannesburg company said in a statement on Thursday.

The book for the placement is “open with immediate effect and is expected to close as soon as possible” with pricing and allocations to be announced after the closing, Discovery said.

Discovery is separating its business from FirstRand because it’s about to start a rival banking operation.

Source: moneyweb.co.za