WELLINGTON, April 21 - New Zealand casino company Sky City Entertainment Ltd (SKC.NZ) is planning to raise around NZ$214 million ($118 million) through a share issue to beef up its balance sheet, the company said on on Tuesday.
It said it was looking to place 71 million ordinary shares to institutional investors at NZ$2.52 each, a discount of 11.6 percent on the stock's last price, before it was placed on a trading halt.
Sky said it would also offer up to NZ$35 million worth of new shares to existing shareholders, as well as offer small shareholders the chance to top up their holdings to avoid being diluted by the new issue.
The company said earnings for the third quarter was 4.3 percent ahead of last year and it was also on track to post a full year profit "comfortably" in the NZ$99 million-NZ$106 million range of analysts' forecasts.
A ban on new casinos in New Zealand has given the company a virtual monopoly, while in Australia it faces rivals such as Tabcorp Ltd. (TAH.AX) and Crown Ltd (CWN.AX).
The company, which owns or has an interest in five casinos in New Zealand and two in Australia, said revenue for the group in the January and February was just ahead of a year ago, on the back of growth in its Australian operations. ($1=NZ$1.81)
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