Banks back PPC’s 4 billion Rand share sale to investors

In the latest Bloomberg report, PPC Limited has announced that it received 4 billion rand (US$263 million) of bank guarantees to underwrite the sale of shares to existing investors, adding to facilities it received last week to redeem bonds.

A group of lenders including Standard Bank Group Ltd., Nedbank Group Ltd., FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank and Barclays Plc’s Absa will lead the rights-offer process and provide the standby underwriting commitment.

The agreement comes after PPC announced on 24 June that it obtained 2 billion rand of guarantees from Absa, FirstRand and Standard Bank to back the early redemption of bonds. PPC is being forced to raise funds after S&P Global Ratings cut its credit rating to junk amid rising debt due to investment in new African projects, combined with a difficult trading environment in its home market.

PPC shares gained 5.5% to 7.93 rand as of 9:07 a.m. in Johannesburg, following three days of losses. The stock has almost halved in 2016, the worst performer on the FTSE/JSE Africa All-Share Index.

Edited from source by Joseph Green. Source: Bloomberg

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